The Shadow's Secret ( 1 )
by AfterDaybreak
Summary: "When I looked in his eyes…it was like I could see the stars again. And I wanted nothing more in my heart than to stargaze." Raiya has never been normal. After meeting five mutants living beneath NYC and trained in ninjutsu, her life couldn't get much weirder. Especially when she begins to develop feelings for one of them. Extended summary inside. TMNT 2014. (Raphael X OC)
1. Extended Summary

_❝ Why are we risking our lives to save some humans that would just kill us if they had the chance anyway? ❞_

Raphael is a mutant. He's a fearless hothead with an undying loyalty to his family and a burning hatred toward humans. At first glance, he's a monster. But with a little effort it's not too hard to see past his iron barriers. 

❝ _I've given up trying to fit in. The world just doesn't accept some people._ ❞

Raiya Carter lives in New York City with her older sister, Olivia. The two have been inseparable ever since their father was thrown in jail and their mother was lost to leukemia. They really couldn't be happier living there—far from their family and their past. The only thing Raiya misses almost as much as her mother is seeing the stars.

One year after moving to NYC, Raiya managed to get herself in some trouble. A mysterious man saved her and disappeared without a trace. Of course, nobody believed this story, so she decided to track him down. And after three years, she's at last successful.

But her success doesn't come without a price.

From the moment Raiya stumbles across her saviour on a rooftop, she's unknowingly in danger. Because an evil thriving within the city will stop at nothing to capture the mutants if knowledge of their existence were to get out.

Raiya must keep their secret from everyone. Including her sister.

And what's worse is that one of the mutants is a huge jerk that she actually—somehow–begins to develop feelings for.

But as she grows every closer to him, she realizes that Raphael isn't quite who he makes himself out to be.

* * *

 **AUTHOR'S NOTE / DISCLAIMER**

Rated T for:

-Swear words

-Some scenes of graphic violence

-Some sexual activity (kissing scenes)

Everything in this story is fictional.

This story is based off the 2014 TMNT movie, but **I do not own** ** _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_** **or** ** _Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles_** **'s characters/plot!**

Raiya and any of her relatives in the story are my characters though! I know she's hella cool but please don't steal her!

If you don't know anything about TMNT, don't sweat it, my story is written so all readers can enjoy!

Also, if anyone notices any spelling or grammar mistakes I would appreciate it _so much_ if you'd mention it in the comments so I can fix it :)

Aaaaaand if anyone would like to make a prettier cover, I would appreciate it very much!

This story is also available on my Wattpad and Quotev account if you'd like to view it there as well :)

Thanks so much for checking out my story! I hope you all enjoy it!


	2. 01 The Shadow Saviour

No one believed me.

They dismissed my story as a mere dream or tale to gain attention when I was younger.

But as I grew older, they all thought I was insane.

But I never gave up.

I spent years trying to find him again.

I couldn't give up; not when I'd witnessed something incredible.

••• 影の秘密 •••

I watched in envy as a tall, cheerful woman hailed down a passing cab and climbed into the passenger seat.

As they drove past me, I could hear her chatting happily with the cabbie. Her loud, exuberant voice could be heard through the glass of the window and the busy streets of honking horns and grouchy people around me.

I sighed, wishing I could just take a cab home instead of having to walk everyday.

Going to school friendless was bad enough, but when I either had to shove my way through people or be shoved on the way to and from, that was just a cherry on top of a sour mood sundae.

And today, I was having none of it.

This wasn't the first time I'd gotten fed up with this city. The sidewalks constantly boiling over with inconsiderate adults and grumpy drivers laying on car horns long enough to damage ear drums was enough to drive anyone insane.

So of course, I knew all the shortcuts home;

When to dart across which streets,

Which crosswalks were fast and which ones took too long to register their button being pressed,

And of course, which alleyways to take, and which to avoid.

Even though Olivia _constantly_ warned me about alleys.

" _Never_ go down alleys, Raiy." She'd said after I'd mistakenly told her about my first walk through one after school. "They always have weirdos camping out in them, or homeless people, and dumpsters that can rob you of your sense of smell, or giant potholes you could _literally_ drown in. And the _biggest_ rats you will _ever_ see."

But, being stubborn old me, I'd ignored her warnings a million times.

 _I knew New York City like the back of my hand!_

I turned down an alleyway without a second thought, letting out a breath of relief as I left the raging rapids of people. Navigating the puddles and potholes of cloudy water in the tall shadows of the buildings around me required no thought and I breathed through my mouth as I walked past graffiti covered walls and dumpsters.

Olivia had always been right about the smell.

My foot dropped with a splash into a deep pool of dirty water. It swirled up into my sneakers faster than I could yank it out. A curse Olivia would not be proud of flitted through my head.

 _When did that get there? It wasn't there yesterday. Potholes that big don't just appear in the middle of October._

I frowned as I walked, one shoe squelching with grey pothole water. A lingering chill crept up my spine, in sync with my increasing heart rate and the footsteps approaching me quickly from behind. I quickened my pace, anxious to reach the busy sidewalk and disappear into the crowd.

But I had no such luck.

A bunch of European men with overgrown beards and sideburns, wearing scruffy flannels with torn jeans strode from the walls in the alley and blocked off all my escape routes.

 _Jeez, these guys look like a gang of hardcore Movember participants._

They didn't look too intimidating until one of them gave a sharp whistle and the men started converging on me, forming a circle like a pack of wolves obeying their alpha, making me wish I had just listened to my sister's warnings about alleys.

"What's in the bag, girlie?" Alpha asked.

"N-nothing," I managed.

 _Wrong alley, wrong alley, wrong alley!_

Deep growls resonated from the gang members' chests. They didn't like my answer.

"She's lyin," one muttered.

"Well we'd better check." Alpha waved a finger, giving me a moment's warning before three of his guys simultaneously assaulted me.

A rag I did not want to know the origin of was pulled across my mouth while my hands were grabbed and my schoolbag was ripped from my shoulders. The cheap blue Roxy backpack I'd come to love was upended. It's contents spewed out across the uneven pavement, some splashing into puddles or rolling under dumpsters. A notebook, a textbook, lip balm, ear buds, the pear I didn't eat during lunch, stray pencils, pens, highlighters and erasers.

I stiffened when my phone vibrated in the pocket of my insanely yellow jacket and prayed they didn't hear.

Alpha threw my backpack to the ground angrily,

"Where's yer phone and money?" He demanded, stepping towards me. I shook my head vigorously,

"I don't have any," I lied, my voice muffled by the gag. I prayed that they weren't smart enough to check my phone case where I always stashed two twenty-dollar bills.

"She's lyin, again!" My heart pounded in my chest so hard it must've been loud enough to be heard three blocks away.

"Check 'er pockets!" I was too in shock to fight back as Alpha roughly shoved his hands into my coat pockets. He grinned and extracted my phone with a flourish. His hot, dog-like breath mingling with the combined BO of eight other guys and the odour of the alleyway dumpsters made my stomach churn. The men mirrored his unbrushed toothy grin.

"I got second dibs on the girl," one guy called, then winked at me. My mind immediately flashed to a movie Olivia and I had recently watched, and I half expected to find a crescent moon and star tattoo on each of their hands.

"What's yer name, girlie?" Alpha asked, stepping closer to me. My mind raced at a million miles an hour.

"Melanie," I blurted in a panic, then winced at the sound of my mother's name. Alpha ran a cold finger down the side of my face, leaving a numb trail along my skin. His eyes took in every inch of my fearful, shaking body.

"You'll be worth a pretty penny. Ever been to Europe?" The gang members snickered.

When Alpha motioned to the guy restraining me to bind my hands, my mind must've finally seemed to clue in and told my body to get the hell out of there because the next thing I knew I'd yanked my hands from the guy's grip, turned around and thrust the heel of my hand at his nose. The guy gagging me released his hold on the cloth in my mouth and grabbed my arms before I could run off.

"Gag her!" Another man darted forward and snatched the fallen cloth off the pavement to shove it into my mouth again. The man I hit cursed and held his now broken nose, while wiping tears from his eyes. The other guys glanced at each other in surprise, some even laughing.

Broken Nose scowled at them."Ay, shut the hell up!"

A thick, grey cloud rolled into the sun's path, plunging the alleyway into a deeper darkness than before. I stared defiantly up at Alpha, who growled and flipped open a pocket knife, then hooked the point of it under my jaw.

"You best not try that again, girlie," he sneered. I stared daggers at him while trying to wrest my arms free of the other man's iron grip.

Something in the corner of my eye moved.

A shadow.

I strained to get a better look at whatever had shifted.

"Whatcha lookin at?" Alpha demanded. The gag fell away from my mouth at the same time one of the men behind me yelled in surprise and I heard something heavy hit the pavement.

"What the-" The same fate met the man who was restraining my arms.

"Wh-what the hell!?" Alpha swiftly moved behind me, one arm grabbing my wrists and the other holding the knife against my throat.

I watched in amazement as this big figure danced from shadow to shadow, dispatching the gang members swiftly and without hesitation. With the sun trapped behind a cloud, the most I could make out were quick flashes of silver and a short but bulky guy racing around at the speed of light.

"Stop right there!" Alpha yelled, as the last of his men dropped to the ground.

The man was nowhere in sight.

Alpha turned me around with him, searching wildly for him.

"I'll kill her. I swear to god, I'll slit her throat!" His knife bit into my skin, drawing a thin line of blood. I held my breath, in fear of the blade cutting deeper into me.

A streak of silver knocked the knife from his hand.

Alpha squeaked in surprise and dragged me with him as he tried to run.

The figure seemed to appear from thin air in the darkness in front of us. Alpha only managed to yell before he fell to the ground, limp as a leaf. I looked up in amazement at my rescuer. The only discernible feature of his was a pair of alien-ish, electric, blue eyes.

Our gazes locked.

And he was gone before I could speak a single word of gratitude.

 **AN: How well do you guys know your turtles? Do you know who saved her?**


	3. 02 Netflix and Pizza Night

My saviour had disappeared into the shadows from whence he came.

I had gone after him of course. But the dark alley I followed him down led only to a dead end.

As did most of my research.

The few leads I got only remained stable and reliable for a short time before tapering off into nothing. I filled notebooks of notes, newspaper articles, photos, possible evidence, ideas, theories, stories, and anything I could find, no matter how ridiculous it sounded.

Those eyes had pierced through the shadows and into my mind forever.

And since that memory was my only solid evidence, I had researched eyes for hours, trying to learn everything I could about them. I scrolled through countless pictures of all sorts until I made the unusual discovery that my saviour's eyes appeared to resemble those of a reptile.

More specifically, a turtle.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"That delivery guy was _so_ hot I almost tipped him my number instead of cash." Olivia set the boxes of fresh pizza on the coffee table in the living area.

I snorted. "He looked like Daniel Radcliffe, didn't he?"

She nodded and took a bite of her vegetarian pizza.

I wrinkled my nose in disgust. "Liv, you have the _worst_ taste in men ever."

She picked up an Xbox controller and raised her eyebrows. "At least I'm not insanely picky."

"I'm not!" I protested.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But let's remember that I've been on more dates than you." Olivia scrolled through the new movie selections on Netflix and I rolled my eyes.

All the guys I'd ever known were either jerks, sociopaths or more antisocial than I am; which is a difficult feat. I couldn't talk to a single guy at my school that didn't make me want to gag, so of course I'd never been on a date before. But Olivia hadn't been on a legit date either.

"You've been on one." I said drily. "And it was with a guy you met at the drive thru window at _Wendy's_ two years ago. You literally hid a piece of paper you wrote your number on in a roll of five-dollar bills you paid with. So he doesn't count."

"Okay, first of all he was _super_ cute and really nice. And second, I probably could've gotten us free Frostys. And third, it totally _did_ count because I had to sit there and act like I was interested in his never ending food facts for like, three hours. So it's still one more date than you," she countered.

Their date was–surprise, surprise–at Wendy's. And I got to hear all about how he spent the whole time talking about how the food there was made and the nutritional facts and benefits in all the meals compared to McDonald's.

I sighed and went back to copying an article from the news into my evidence notebook. It mentioned a witness who saw someone stop a Footclan robbery at the docks. A crane operator working a late shift had apparently been taking a snack break when he saw a bunch of people dressed in black running around the shipping containers; looking for something. After only a few minutes of searching, the Foot soldiers were attacked by a huge, built man with a slight hunchback, a bald head and dark skin, as the witness described him. In no time, this vigilante had managed to tie a bunch of them up and leave them for the police. Something about the description and story tickled my mind, telling me it was important.

Olivia paused her movie search to watch me.

"What did you find now?" She asked.

Olivia was completely accustomed to my research. For the past three years she'd helped me gather info, determine the legitimacy of theories and stories and even put up with my bad moods after I'd stayed up too late researching, or bring me caffeine to keep me awake during late night info-gatherings.

"A crane operator witnessed a vigilante stop a Footclan robbery at the dock Wednesday night," I said, sketching a copy of the grainy black and white photo the witness had taken of the vigilante standing in the shadow of a shipping crate.

She groaned. " _Another_ Foot robbery? What could they possibly be trying to steal? A few million shipments of rice and wontons to feed their Japanese mafia?" She shook her head and continued to search for something to watch with our pizza. "The NYPD have _literally_ been doing nothing to stop these guys! Even with the help of that guy, what's his name again?"

"Eric Sacks."

"Yeah! Even after he partnered up with the police to _'fight back against the Footclan'_ they've still been sitting on their asses, stuffing their faces with donuts and coffee. This city is ridiculous. We need a group of people that _actually_ patrol the city properly and _look_ for crimes to stop instead of waiting for them to fall into their lap." She huffed in irritation.

I couldn't help but grin. Olivia could get insane into politics sometimes, especially when the Footclan was mentioned.

I finished copying the article and began to expand on one of my theories. Olivia shot me a concerned look.

"You should take a break, Raiy. Eat something. You've been writing in that notebook for like ten hours."

I snorted, "it's only been two, chill. I just need to finish this... _aaaaaand_..." I quickly scrawled down a bunch of sentences. "...I'm done!" I closed the notebook and snatched a triangle of five cheese pizza hungrily, then watched as Liv scrolled through the romantic comedy category.

When she stopped to read the description of Life as We Know It, I immediately shook my head,

"No."

"But Josh Duhamel is in it!" She protested.

"Well we can watch Transformers. But not a romantic one, they're too boring."

She tossed me the controller. "Alright, you look then. But whatever you choose has to have a hot lead character."

I grinned as I scrolled through the selection of action movies.

 _No problem._

"White House Down!"

"Approval granted. Channing Tatum is in it."

I pressed play and jumped onto the couch beside her, pulling a blanket off the backrest and curling up under it.

Olivia fell asleep after an hour and a half, then proceeded to snore, despite me waking her up multiple times.

I eventually gave up and endured the annoyance bubbling in the back of my head for the remaining forty-five minutes of the movie.

Then–half asleep–I piled the remaining pizza into the fridge for breakfast tomorrow and tossed my evidence notebook into my room before reclaiming my still-warm spot on the couch and falling asleep.

 **AN:** **PLEASE don't be a silent reader and let me know what ya'll think so far! I'd love some feedback!**


	4. 03 Some Crazy Inspiration

_"What's yer name, girlie?" The oily European voice bounces off the buildings around me._

 _My pulse quickens._

 _"Ever been to Europe?"_

 _I clench my fists and look around, expecting to see him._

 _"Watcha lookin at?"_

 _He's behind me._

 _I whirl around, tense to strike, but I see nothing._

 _The ghost of a cold blade presses against my throat._

 _I feel his hot, rotten breath wash over me as he speaks into my ear, "you'll be worth a pretty penny."_

 _My blood boils with rage and I move to knock the knife away but my hand passes through air._

 _A cloth is yanked harshly across my mouth and is pulled back, dragging me with it. I scream into the gag and struggle against my attacker._

 _They stop dragging me and I crumple to the damp pavement. His malicious laugh runs sharp through my ears._

 _I look around._

 _The alley is empty._

But how?

 _I get to my feet and look closer._

 _Behind the graffiti painted dumpsters. On the fire escapes. In the shadowy nooks. Behind the shattered glass of a window._

 _"Lookin for me, girlie?"_

 _I turn._

 _My foot slides on something and I fall to the ground, narrowly avoiding nosediving into a deep pothole of cloudy, brown water. I glance back to see what I slid on._

 _A neon blue highlighter._

 _The school supplies I had in grade seven are strewn across the length of the alley. It's as if they'd just popped into existence in an attempt to trip me into a pothole._

 _I look down into the murky water and freeze._

 _My breath catches in my throat. Words die on my lips. My heart stops._

 _Alpha stares back at me through our reflections in the pothole water._

 _He stands right behind me, wearing the same clothing, the same switchblade in his pocket, with the same hair and beard and the exact twisted smile I last saw three years ago._

 _"You gon be worth more now, girlie. You grown up to be quite a flower."_

 _My teeth grit together and I tear my eyes away from his reflection._

 _When I look behind me, he's not there._

 _There's a sharp tug on a strand of my hair. I gasp and whirl around in a desperate attempt to identify my attacker. The hood of my jacket is yanked, causing the collar to bite into my neck. My pockets are pulled at, as if invisible hands are searching desperately for something._

 _"Where's yer phone and money, this time?"_

 _Another tug on my hair. Then on the sleeve of my yellow jacket, making me stumble. I growl in annoyance and swing my fist around, daring to hope I'll hit my assailant._

 _"Angry, girlie?"_

You do _not_ want to know how angry this girlie is. _An ugly cackle rings out across the alleyway as ripples flow across the surface of puddles._

 _Then it's black._

 _The cackling abruptly stops in surprise. It's as if a light switch has been flipped, plunging the dreary grey alley into utter darkness. I can barely see my own hands before me. I hear a grinding, like metal on pavement._

 _And the blade with it's accompanying voice is back at my throat._

 _"Don't you try nothin! She's mine! Ya hear!?" He calls out._

 _I try to push the knife away, but my fingers and palm are sliced this time._

 _"Best not wreck them pretty hands," he snickers and locks my arms behind me._

 _The blood is sticky and warm as it runs into my palms. I struggle against his incredibly strong hold, making him laugh more. I decide to change tactics. I open my mouth to yell but a gag is shoved inside, pulled so tight that the rough cloth chafes the corners of my mouth. In fact, I begin to smell and taste the metallic of my blood. I feel it run down my chin and drip onto my yellow rain coat like hot, red tears. It stings as if salt were poured onto my wounds._

 _My eyes start to tear, blurring my vision and making it that much harder to make out the silver blur barreling toward me through the darkness._

 _It knocks the knife away._

 _He yells in surprise._

 _I slam my foot down, intending to smash my attacker's. I'm shoved to the ground._

 _"Get way from me!" He yells shakily._

 _Loose chunks of asphalt pebbles become lodged in my sliced hands, sending sharp stings zipping along my fingers and palm. I bite back a gasp and wipe the tears from my cheeks and blood from my chin. I claw at the gag but I can't feel it beneath my fingers, yet I feel it on the soft skin of my face._

 _"She's mine!" His almost canine growl isn't enough of a warning before I look up to see him sailing towards me through the air._

 _He slams into me. We fly backwards._

 _My head cracks against the pavement, sending stars across my vision. His rank breath suffocates me. I yell through the gag and desperately try to kick at him and smear blood from my hands into his eyes. He pins my hands above my head and leans his face closer to mine._

 _My heart is pounding almost as painfully as my head as I try to move away from him._

 _He jerks to a stop. His grip on me loosens. His mouth parts in a silent 'oh' of surprise before he's yanked off of me. The gag falls away._

 _It's him._

 _I scramble to my feet._

That silver blur, that was him.

 _But I don't see him._

 _I try to speak, but my voice is nonexistent. I turn and come face to face with those blue eyes again._

He came.

 _I can't form words. They're too thick and heavy in my throat._

He came to save me again.

 _Then he's gone._

 _And I'm alone in the vastness of impenetrable darkness._


	5. 04 Caffeinated Mornings

I jolted awake, falling off the couch in the process.

 _"Holy shit."_ I scrambled to my feet and stumbled in the general direction of my room through the pitch black living area.

Olivia moaned and shuffled on the couch as I noisily navigated the dark apartment.

Despite the horrifying factor of my dream, I didn't have a trace of fear in me and I haven't a clue why.

I cursed when I stubbed my toe on the corner of a bookshelf, but kept hobbling as fast as I could.

 _I can't believe I found inspiration in a fucked up nightmare._

My hand slid along the wall in my room, searching for the light switch. I cursed again when I switched them on and squinted while my eyes took an eternity to adjust. I shook out my arms and legs, encouraging the return of proper blood flow, before sitting at my desk and opening my computer. After screwing up my password a few times, I managed to log in and open a Safari window. My hand strayed to the left side of my desk, expecting to find a notebook there.

"Damn it." I quickly snatched it from my bed, remembering that I'd hastily thrown it there last night. I threw open a drawer and grabbed a pencil, then frantically wrote before the rapidly fading details could slip my mind.

The door whined on it's hinges and I heard a yawn. I didn't need to look up from my paper to know that Olivia was standing in the doorway of my bedroom.

"I suppose it's three in the morning," she muttered.

I glanced at the corner of my Mac's screen. "It's only five," I said, rubbing the drowsiness from my eyes in an attempt to make it easier to write anything legible.

"You are _so_ lucky."

She stood for a few more minutes, watching me. Then she sighed. "I'll make coffees."

"Bring the leftover pizza too!" I called as she left my room.

After I finished writing down everything I could remember about my dream, I started on the beginnings of a new discovery method.

My fingers flew across the keyboard of my laptop, fuelled by excitement and hope. I couldn't remember the last time I'd been this excited about a _dream._ I felt a grin spread across my face.

My impatience to gather all the info and evidence I needed to be sure my method would work made me bounce in my seat.

Liv returned with an insane amount of coffee and microwaved pizza and placed it on the edge of my desk, but I was too immersed in my research to stop and devour it all. She waited patiently for me to finish gathering everything I needed before asking about my most recent theory, sitting cross legged on my bed and sipping her coffee.

I switched between all my open tabs displaying news articles, blogs and even _Yahoo!_ questions.

Words popped out at me;

 _Mysterious..._

 _Shadowy figure..._

 _Dark alley..._

 _Rescued me..._

 _Midnight..._

 _Invisible..._

They all mentioned _him_.

But that wasn't the only thing they had in common.

I wrote like a madwoman in my notebook: erasing almost every second word; second guessing every sentence; rewriting the whole thing over and over and _over_ again. It was a long, frustrating cycle only broken by the rare coffee or pizza breaks to refuel.

I read it over once more and wrinkled my nose.

 _What the hell am I writing? This is like a god damn military operation._

I tore the mangled paper from the notebook and tossed it over my shoulder.

 _Just keep it simple, Raiya._

After a warm sip of caramel macchiato to keep my mind from shutting down, I picked up my pencil and wrote.

••• 影の秘密 •••

I grinned and put my pencil down, satisfied at last.

Olivia looked up from her book and waited expectantly for my excited explanation.

"What's the grand idea this time?" She asked, propping her chin up on her hand.

I took a bite of pizza before explaining.

"Okay, so you know how I've been trying to find this guy and basically track him down like a blood hound and no matter what I came up with it was always _completely_ impossible?" I began, already vibrating in my seat with excitement. She nodded. "Okay, well I had this super weird dream and I was like, _holy shit this is actually genius_. So I just did a shit ton of research, as you already know, and from that research I found the similarities in all my rescuer's appearances and based off those findings, I formulated a method that -"

"Raiya!" Olivia held her hands up, overwhelmed by my ongoing blabbing and fancy words I was starting to unconsciously use. "Dumb it down for me. I don't need to know the physics behind it, I just need to know if I need to put an ambulance or a firetruck on hold for you or something."

I waved away her concern. "Nah, I won't be doing anything stupid. Alright, so check this out." I turned my Mac's screen toward her, which displayed a blogger's personal experience of her shadow-saviour encounter. "She was saved by this guy in the middle of the night on her way home from a movie. These guys tried to mug her but shadow man dropped in and saved her." I opened more tabs of different blogs, and news articles. "Muggings, robberies, rape, beatings, kidnappings. All these people were in some sort of danger when he showed up, including me. So I figured, why go track him down when I can just let him come to me?"

Olivia groaned. "So you're going to intentionally put yourself in a shit show in hopes of this guy coming to your rescue again?"

I nodded and ate more of my pizza while spinning around in my chair. "Smart, huh?" When she didn't reply right away, I spun towards her. Liv was watching me with a mixture of annoyance and incredulousness.

"It took you _that_ long to come up with something _that_ simple?" She demanded. My mouth dropped open and I threw a pencil at her,

" _Hey!_ You can't rush ingenuity!" She threw the pencil back, then pushed herself off my bed.

"Well you're insane. And if you get dragged off by a bunch of Albanians, don't expect me to run all over Europe looking for you." I grinned and spun around, glancing over my plan again,

 _You won't need to._

 **AN: Are my chapters too long? Too short?**

 **I know it's kinda boring right now, but hang in there it'll get interesting soon :)**


	6. 05 A Failed Attempt

Every story about an encounter with the shadow guy occurred while the sun was down.

Except for mine.

And I couldn't ignore that incessant voice in the back of my head, telling me that my encounter was different. Sure, I'd realized before that I was the only one who'd been saved by this guy during day hours, but up until now I hadn't really considered the significance of it. There were a million stories of people being rescued, and not a single other story was during the daytime. I mean, it wasn't _that_ sunny the day he saved me. I remembered every detail as if the entire day were a video on repeat imprinted on the inside of my eyelids.

It was a rainy day. One that seemed as if the water droplets falling from the clouds were tears; that the sky was crying. The mood of the entire city matched the look of it: gloomy and wet. Whenever the sun was out, it only served the purpose of highlighting the edges of anything wet–which was everything–and burning your eyes from the rare and sudden appearance of light. So it wasn't very bright out to begin with. Add an alley to that and a big angry rain cloud lounging in front of the sun, and it was pretty dark. Dark enough that I could see close to nothing of my shadow saviour.

So I assumed that was probably why he came out during the day for me when he seemed to prefer night hours. Which was why I _also_ assumed he'd come out under the exact same conditions three years later.

 _Today._

Memories from junior high school resurfaced as I made my way down the same path I used to walk on to get home from school every day. As soon as the alleyway came into view I saw him.

Those eyes. The most intriguing eyes I'd ever seen.

Blue. Indigo around the edges and lighter around the pupil, with veins of untamed electricity running rampant across his iris.

When I turned down the alleyway, I found myself hoping Alpha and his gang of European buddies would be there.

I did my best imitation of a lost tourist as I walked further into the alley: glancing around nervously; tripping over my own feet; clutching my arms close to my sides. I'd seen people like this enough to know how they looked to others: vulnerable and defenceless. Which was _exactly_ what I needed.

Not a trace of fear ran through me when the men looked up from their game of poker. It wasn't Alpha and his gang, but they still stood as I drew nearer. I debated wether or not to approach them and ask for directions like an idiot or just walk faster. I quickened my pace and deliberately looked away.

Their laughter echoed after me.

"Lost, girlie?" One cooed.

 _My god, do all guys call every girl they see 'girlie'?_

I made a show of stumbling over my feet.

They snickered.

"Where ya goin?"

I exhaled deeply, keeping my cool.

"Why don't ya stay awhile?"

I put my hands in my hoodie pockets so they wouldn't notice how they're balled into tight fists.

One of them stepped right in front of me, his sour breath overpowering the stench of the dumpsters.

"Hey there."

I tried to bolt past him but he moved into my path,

"Not so fast there girlie, we just wanna get to know ya."

He twirled finger around a strand of my red hair, then yanked it upward, jerking my head to look up at him. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't mask the fury on my face.

He slid his tongue across his lips, almost as if he were hungry. "You're a fiesty one, aren't ya?"

I bit back a more-than-feisty retort. He grinned devilishly and jerked his chin at something behind me. I didn't have time to glance back before they yanked my hands from my pockets and searched me. I desperately looked around, searching for any signs of him.

The guy standing in front of me narrowed his eyes. "What're ya doin?" He demanded.

It took every ounce of my willpower to remain calm and not lash out. Not yet.

The alleyway seemed about as dark as last time.

 _So why isn't he here?_

I bit my lip and strained a bit against the mens' grip.

 _Not a very tight hold,_ I noted. _Good. They aren't concerned about me escaping._

They found nothing in my pockets. I'd had enough sense to slip my phone into my shoe before leaving the apartment this morning. I managed to hide my triumphant smile.

"She don't got nothin," one of the men complained. Dumpster breath in front of me snarled and bent down in front of my face.

"Where ya hidin everythin?" He spat.

I flinched away from the probably toxic saliva that flew from his angry mouth. He grabbed a fistful of my hair and wrenched it violently.

"That's some purdy hair ya got," he mused, slipping something from his pocket and holding it up. He flicked it and a sharp blade popped up. "How's it look short?"

He teased the knife's edge against the length of hair he held. My eyes darted around hopefully.

 _Now would be a good time to drop in._

"Hey." Another yank on my hair. "I asked you a question."

Save for the men's breathing, the alley was silent. Nothing moved. Nothing.

My heart deflated.

 _He's not coming._

I didn't know how I knew, but I _knew_. I sighed, at least I know how to get myself out of this. I yanked my hands from the mens' poor grips and kicked my foot in between Dumpster Breath's legs. He yelped and released his hold on my hair, doubling over. The knife clattered to the pavement. I kicked it away before one of the others could grab it. They yelled in surprise and tried to grab at me but I evaded their hands, shoving a few to the ground as I ran. They called after me, using not very nice names. I didn't stop running. Not until I put a few busy streets between me and that alley.

Once back to a calm, walking pace, I smoothed my clothes and hair. I rubbed my scalp. It hurt, but at least I still had my hair. But I still didn't get to see him.

 _He didn't come._

 _He didn't save me._

 **AN: I am the** ** _worst_** **at naming chapters I'm so sorry XD**

 **If you guys have better names then let me know :)**

 **Anyways, what do you guys think so far?**

 **Leave me some feedback(and possible chapter names)! vvvv**


	7. 06 A Bourne Marathon

"How'd it go?" Olivia called when I walked into the apartment.

I tossed my shoes off and walked into the kitchen, following her voice.

"He didn't show up."

Liv stood at the stove, stirring a pot of what smelled like pasta. She looked up as I walked in.

"What happened?"

I took over cooking the pasta for her, stirring and occasionally taste testing as I recounted my experience.

"...So I murdered his dick and ran," I finished.

Olivia clapped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to contain her violent bout of laughter.

I grinned and waited for her to calm her breathing.

"You have the _worst_ potty mouth but it's so _funny,_ " she managed.

I laughed and picked a spaghetti noodle from the boiling water to test it. I nodded, _it's ready._

I drained the water from the pot and turned the heat off, then began to work on the sauce as Liv pulled out a bag of lettuce to start a salad. She peeled the bad leaves off the lettuce heads and was about to toss them into the garbage bin when I thrust my hand out,

"Hand them over."

"Raiy, I'm throwing them out for a _reason,_ " I raised my eyebrows,

"Okay, we both know that I'm basically immune to anything and everything bad lettuce can possible carry around."

She dropped the leaves into my palm in defeat, which I ate as I mixed spices into the tomato sauce. With both of us working, everything was ready in no time and we had an early Italian dinner.

••• 影の秘密 •••

I looked up from the bin of movie selections sitting in front of me,

"Alright, we can watch Madagascar, Terminator, The Exorcist, Jurassic Park, Bourne, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman, Scary Movie, Hunger Games, Ice Age, or literally any of the Marvel superheroes."

Olivia sat on the couch, scrolling through her phone and picking through a bowl of popcorn. She looked up from the glowing screen in her hand and wrinkled her nose.

"Raiy, come on. You _know_ I can't handle horror movies." I groaned and placed the boxed sets of scary movies back into the bin, ruling them out, then looked back over at her. "Not Hunger Games, or else I'll have to track down Jennifer Lawrence and strangle her. I'm too tired to try and comprehend Terminator today. Batman is just boring, how does it qualify as an option? And Jurassic Park is a no, the second one is just too awful to handle. But, we haven't seen Bourne in a while, and _whatshisname_ is in the last one, the really cute one." She looked to me expectantly for an answer.

"Jason Bourne," I said dryly.

She rolled her eyes. "No, I'm not that stupid. I'm talking about that guy with the-the _thing._ " She mimed nocking an arrow to a bow.

"Hawkeye?"

She got really excited. "Yeah! Jeremy Renner! _That's_ his name! I like him!"

I stood to insert the first disc.

"Bourne it is then."

I hopped onto the couch beside her and grabbed a handful of popcorn, then picked up the remote and played the movie.

••• 影の秘密 •••

After the third movie, I started to drift off.

I managed to catch bits and pieces of Jeremy Renner wrestling with a wolf, in an airport and running around a factory full of Asian women before completely falling asleep.

••• 影の秘密 •••

I woke up to an incessant ringing. I groaned and rolled over to slap my alarm clock off, but it wasn't there. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes. I'd fallen asleep on the couch last night. Again. I groaned and got up, running to grab my phone and answer it before it went to voicemail.

"Hello?" I yawned.

 _"Happy Fourth of July!"_

"What?"

 _"Oh jeez, You just woke up, didn't you?"_ Olivia asked with a sigh. I nodded.

"Mmhmmm."

 _"It's basically noon, you need to get a summer job."_ I put my phone on speaker and went into the fridge to look for a quick breakfast.

"Top of my to-do list," I muttered, grabbing a container of lemon yogurt.

 _"hmv would be a good place, you like movies."_ I wrinkled my nose.

"I don't like talking to people." There was a short pause that I assumed was due to an eye roll,

 _"Well then you can be a garbage truck driver."_ I grabbed a spoon and dug into my yogurt.

"That sounds fun." She huffed.

 _"I don't appreciate your sarcasm."_

"That was genuine," I argued half heartedly.

 _"Raiy."_

"Hmm?" I hummed past the yogurt in my mouth.

 _"Promise me you'll look for a job today."_

"Okay, I will right after I eat something."

 _"Thank you. You need to start earning some money too."_

"You earn enough for both of us," I argued.

 _"We've been getting by. But you need to do something, and having the extra money would be nice."_

I rolled my eyes, _a nurse definitely earns enough money to have extra._

"Alright I'll look for garbage truck driver jobs. Or hey! I can be one of those guys that rips around on those things at ice rinks and makes the ice all pretty!"

 _"They drive Zambonis and earn like five bucks an hour. You'd be better off walking dogs."_

I nodded thoughtfully. "I'll look into that too."

 _"I have to go. I'm working late so I'll see you late tonight."_

"Wow that's rude of them to make you work, it's Independence Day."

 _"Patients don't get a break today like everyone else, they need me. And it's not like we do anything anyways. But I_ really _have to go, bye."_

"K, byyyee." I tapped my phone screen and ended the call, then cut up an assortment of fruits that I took to my room as a snack while I searched for jobs on my computer.

 _I don't want to put up with grumpy people or talk a lot on a daily basis, so that rules out restaurants. Not something too boring, so no book stores or clothing stores. An art store wouldn't be too bad but the only people that shop at those places are really weird. hmv wouldn't be too bad. Maybe like a Starbucks or a Booster Juice. Or I could work at the aquarium or the zoo. Oh the zoo might be okay._

I went onto the Central Park Zoo website and emailed the manager, asking if there were any job openings, then did the same with Starbucks and hmv.

 _If all else fails, I'll walk dogs._

 **AN: I'm pretty sure nurses earn a lot of money?**


	8. 07 Night Out

"Hello?" I called as I walked into the hangar while untangling my hair from the catastrophic state it was in, courtesy of the hurricane winds outside. I was humming with anticipation of what we were doing today. I _loved_ flying in crazy wind.

"Over here!" Uncle Thomas called back. I followed his voice to the helipad, where he was refuelling his machine. He looked up at me and grinned as I approached.

"Happy Fourth of July!"

"Yeah, happy Fourth of July," I replied with less enthusiasm.

"Ready for some flying?" He asked, setting the jerrycan down. I smiled and nodded.

"Oh yeah. What are we gonna do with this hurricane weather?" Uncle Tom reached into the pilot seat and tossed me my helmet. I grinned before he even spoke.

"Navigating and landing in extreme winds."

••• 影の秘密 •••

 _"Little close on the tail end,"_ Uncle Tom warned, his voice in my ear. I inched forward before setting the copter down on the helipad. The strong winds kept the blades turning until the helipad descended into the hangar and we escaped the outdoors. He looked over at me with a huge smile.

 _"That was really good."_ I could already hear his voice above the propellers as they steadily came to rest. I smiled back.

"Wind like this is always fun." He shook his head win wonder.

 _"I don't get how you almost fly better in weather like this than a clear day."_ I just shrugged and pulled my helmet off, smoothing my hair. I hopped out and placed my helmet back on my seat. Uncle Thomas came around the helicopter, his brown hair wild from wearing his helmet. I nodded in approval.

"That's some nice hair."

"It has a mind of it's own." He chuckled and ran his fingers through it. "What do you and Olivia have planned for tonight? Doing anything to celebrate?" My hands strayed to my hoodie pockets.

"Nope. Liv's working late so I'll probably go make and mess in the kitchen for her to come home too." I grinned.

"When's she going to be back?"

"Around eleven."

"That's enough time to go for dinner. Does she like The Smith? You can bring something back for her." He started walking toward the connected garage and I followed.

"Sure, sounds good." I hid my awe at the sight of his obviously new BMW. He glanced over at me.

"Like it?"

"Yeah, it's...really pretty," I said, unable to think of anything else to describe it. I mean, I wasn't a vehicle person in any way, but I knew enough to know that it was insanely expensive and luxurious. He grinned.

"Hop in." I climbed into the passenger seat of his incredibly pristine BMW. I felt way to underdressed to be in it, but Uncle Tom wore only jeans and a leather jacket, plus his unkempt hair. He started the car and zoomed out of the garage.

"So what classes are you taking this year?" He glanced over at me. I felt like I was in a scene from Fast and Furious and some speed demon would come challenge us to a street race out of the blue, but it never happened.

"Uhm, well I'm taking Physics 10, obviously. And a general science, then Math 10-1, English 10-2 and Social 10-2. Then for options I'm taking Spanish, Art and Home Ec."

"Spanish? How do you say I'm a nerd?" I grinned.

"Soy un nerd."

"Really? That sounds easy. How do you say my uncle is awesome?"

"Mi tío es grande." He frowned.

"So when I'm asking for a grande coffee at Starbucks, I'm asking for an awesome coffee?"

"No, grande means big."

"So you called me big?" I sighed inwardly.

"No, it has two meanings, big and great." He raised his eyebrows.

"Oh so you downgraded me?"

"I don't know what awesome is in Spanish, _Tío._ " I rolled my eyes. "Mi tío es vanidoso."

"What does that mean?" I shrugged. "Hey! What'd you say about me?" He demanded.

"My uncle is wise."

"Oh," A grin split his face, "I _am_ very vanidoso." I nodded, holding back my laugh.

"Very."

"So any progress in making friends?" I snorted.

"The last friends I had where the ones in Arizona. And that was when making friends was like 'hey we both like tigers, let's be best friends.'" He laughed.

"Grade sixes aren't like that, you're thinking of grade twos."

"Oh even better, I haven't had friends since grade two." He waved his hand.

"Nah, I bet you have friends. You just don't think you do."

"I...have acquaintances," I decided. Uncle Tom chuckled.

"Friends don't usually last very long in high school anyways. As long as you have your family around, nobody really needs friends. It helps you to focus on school, which is why you're so smart." I grinned.

"That makes me feel better."

••• 影の秘密 •••

Uncle Tom held the door open for me as we left The Smith with satisfied stomachs and a packaged pasta and vegetable dinner for Olivia.

"Thank you so much for dinner," I said, stopping just outside the restaurant's entrance. He smiled.

"Anytime, I didn't want to let you go home and wait there for you sister alone." I shrugged, glancing around at the dark streets flooded with colourful lights.

"I can play loud music when she's not around." He laughed and pulled his jacket closer around him. He tilted his head toward his car, parked a few feet away.

"I can give you a ride back." I shook my head.

"No, I'll be fine. It's not a very long walk." He glanced across the street, at the spectrum of colours, brighter against the dark backsplash.

"I know, but it's late. There can be some sketchy people out right now." I rolled my eyes.

"Okay, I think we both know I've learned my lesson about alleyways. Plus, It's not like anyone weird is gonna be out tonight, there's a million people out celebrating. Aaaand, I think you'll be proud to hear that I successfully escaped a potential mugging yesterday." Uncle Thomas freaked.

"What!? What happened!? Are you alright!?"

 _Oops. That may have been the wrong thing to say._

"What? I'm fine, I'm _fine_. Don't worry." I laughed lightly.

"Raiya, what happened?"

"I was testing out one of my theories. And I was like ninety-nine percent sure it was gonna work, but it didn't so I mean I _obviously_ had a plan just in case so I was prepared and I'm fine, seriously. And I've seen Miss Congeniality a million times, I know what I'm doing. I am _feared._ " I grinned, but he didn't seem overly impressed.

"I'm driving you," he decided, but, being the stubborn person I was, I stood my ground.

"Uncle Tom, I'm _serious_. The streets are gonna be cramped. Anyways, it's like a five minute walk and I've been cooped up in the apartment all summer so far," I begged, party lying. It was more like a fifteen minute walk. He sighed, and raked his fingers through his hair in thought. I didn't wait for a response, I just waved and started to walk off.

"Bye! Thanks again for dinner!"

"Be careful!" He called back. I turned and grinned as I walked.

 _I'm always careful._

 **AN: Okay but I actually know like nothing about helicopter flying, so cut me some slack haha.**


	9. 08 Chance Meeting

Not ten minutes later I found myself diving headfirst into danger. _Again._ Okay, but this time I didn't start it. The three guys in black I witnessed suspiciously unlock the front door of a jewelry store started it. Of course, I decided to glance across the street at the exact moment this happened, giving me a perfect opportunity to call the police.

 _Or_ , that stupid voice in my mind with all the dumb ideas added, _you can run over there and check it out because why the hell not._

Luckily, I had enough sense to wait before darting off. When the men reappeared with heavy pockets and bags, I found myself weaving in between the vehicles stuck in traffic and following them down the sidewalk. I slowed a bit to sidestep the bystanders who'd fallen to the pavement, but kept chase. I didn't even hesitate to follow them down an alley I didn't recognize, throwing everything my sister and uncle have been telling me for years straight down a storm drain. I hadn't a single clue why I was so desperate to follow them, but that was the least of my concern as I located the thieves' location.

Their loud footsteps and not-so-quiet whispering on the fire escape of a building made it all too easy to follow them. They were creating such a ruckus above me that they couldn't even hear my noisy pursuit.

I clutched Olivia's still warm dinner close to my stomach as I climbed upwards. I stopped when I noticed how quiet it had become. Considering how loud it was a few moments ago, it was odd. I ran faster. I dropped the packaged food on the metal platform so I could climb the short ladder to the top of the roof.

My heart stopped and I almost fell off the ladder. He stood over them, swiftly tying their limbs together in such a way to render them useless. I couldn't move. I felt as if I were the one with bound arms and legs.

He matched the descriptions perfectly: the humpback; an incredibly muscular build; a bald head; wielding swords; and… _big_. He was huge! Way bigger than I remembered!

I set my jaw determinedly, _he's not running off this time._

I quickly scrambled onto the roof. He looked up at me in surprise. My breath caught in my throat.

 _Those eyes._

We stood, staring in alarm at each other. He was…a _thing._

 _Well, a turtle, actually,_ the educational part of my brain provided as if it weren't already obvious enough with the huge shell on his back and the three fingers and two toes.

In the full moonlight, I could make out most of what he was wearing.

Loose, black pants taped around his waist and ankles with knee pads on overtop of them. More tape was across his knuckles and in between his huge fingers. A tattoo of patterned lines encircled his left bicep, while two more intricate mandalas of black ink covered the expanse of his right shoulder and forearm. A thick strip of leather ran across his chest, strapping two sheathed swords to the back of his shell. They had black and blue hilts, their long tails of blue cloth fluttering in the wind not unlike the tails of the blue mask he wore across his electric eyes. A transmitter-walkie-talkie-thing was clipped to the strap as well, sitting just above his collarbone. A light coloured scar ran diagonally toward his nose and appeared below his mask, running diagonally away from his nose.

My mouth opened and closed without words.

He watched me in horror, then turned on his heel to run off but I lunged forward with a desperate _'wait!'_ And managed to catch his wrist. His green skin wasn't scaly under my touch, it was soft, almost like leather, and warm. Equally as surprised as I was, he stopped and looked down at me. This time, was the opposite. I couldn't stop the words from tumbling out.

"Sorry I just, I've been looking for you for so long and the other day I was like _alright, so that's it_ but I wasn't going to give up just like that and I knew that you weren't going to just forget about me, even after all these years, because it was different, and I saw you. I _knew_. I recognize your eyes. And don't know why, but I just had to follow those guys, oh and good job, by the way, that's some knot you tied them in-" I stopped when I noticed his face change; saw the realization dawning. I narrowed my eyes, unable to believe it. "Wait...you _remember_ me?"

He didn't even nod, or give the slightest response to my question. I wanted to slap him.

"Will you at least _say_ something?" I demanded in annoyance. He regarded me in disbelief, as if I were a ghost.

"How did you find me?" He asked, his voice almost a whisper. "How many years has it been?" I crossed my arms.

"Almost three." His eyes widened.

"Three years?" He breathed. Then, "you can't tell anyone." I frowned.

"Not even-"

" _No one_...please," he begged.

 _Not even Olivia._ I nodded reluctantly and he let out a huge breath of relief. The bound thieves groaned and shuffled against one another. We both looked over at them.

"The police will be showing up soon," he said, taking a step back.

"Oh hell no am I going to spend another three years tracking your ass down," I said, stopping him in his tracks.

"Look, I'll talk to you tomorrow night. And don't forget your promise."

 _My promise to lie to my sister._

He started backing away but I just followed, arms crossed.

"How do I know you're not going to ditch me?"

He started running.

"I'll send you the address!"

"How?"

But he was gone.


	10. 09 Regretful Lies

"Raiya?" Olivia called as I opened the door to our apartment.

I swore under my breath.

 _She must've left earlier than I thought._

I groaned inwardly, _I'm gonna get a hell of a lecture._

"Yeah?" I tensed, ready for World War III.

"Where have you been!?" She demanded, storming out of the kitchen. I placed the now cold food in her hands.

"Uncle Tom took me out to dinner. I brought you back something to eat, but I thought you were going to be back later."

She frowned. "I assume that you walked back instead of accepting a ride?"

I grinned. "Yup." I followed her when she walked into the kitchen with the packaged dinner, probably to warm it up in the microwave.

"Did you get jumped again?" She asked, a hint of humour in her voice. I sighed inwardly with relief, _crisis averted._

"Nope, I've become _very_ street smart." The mouthwatering smell of Alfredo sauce began to fill the room.

"I'm _so_ excited to eat all this." Liv smiled as she removed the steaming plate of pasta from the microwave.

"So you flew in that scary wind today?" She asked, grabbing a fork from the utensil drawer.

" _Yes!_ I _love_ flying in wind like that!"

"Well you're still alive so that means you didn't crash, which is good. Did you look for a job?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yes. I sent applications to the zoo and Starbucks. Oh yeah, Uncle Tom got a new car."

Liv snorted. "Is it a Ferrari?"

"No it's this _insanely_ expensive BMW! _And he drove it to The Smith!_ "

"Are we surprised?" She said drily.

"Well _I_ kinda was," I mumbled. The silence seemed to call out to me, saying it's the perfect moment to tell her. To lie.

I couldn't recall the last time I'd lied to my sister. I used to lie a lot after mom died, then Olivia had smacked some sense into me and I couldn't remembered speaking a false word to my sister in the last four years.

Man, was that ever going to change.

"I think I'm dropping the whole research thing," I said.

Olivia's fork clattered onto her plate and I looked over to see her choking on pasta.

"You _what?_ " She asked

"I quit. No more researching. I'm done." I dropped my hands into my hoodie pocket.

"Are you _serious? Now_ you decide to quit?" She demanded. "What the hell!?"

I shrugged. "I haven't found anything in three years so there's probably nothing _to_ find."

She huffed. "Well _jeez,_ took you long enough to figure it out."

I crossed my arms and frowned.

"I'm having a shower and going to bed." I harrumphed and left the kitchen.

Something clawed at my chest. This ache that grew and grew and grew and filled me with this horrible feeling. For once, that stupid voice in the back of my head was silent, as if it were guilty for dragging me into this mess.

 _But it's not a mess._ My heart warred. _This is what you wanted._

And I _was_ excited. In fact, I was _ecstatic_ to see him again. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the second I spoke that tiny little lie to Olivia, that I sparked the beginning of a wild fire of lies that would grow, and grow, and burn, burn, burn.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"So what so you want to do today?" Olivia asked, flipping pancakes at the stove. My stomach growled as the smell reached my nose.

I shrugged. "It's your day off, what do you feel like doing?" Fresh pancake batter sizzled on the hot, butter coated pan.

"I think we should order Mikado's, because we haven't had it in forever. And we should have a Halo tournament and maybe another movie marathon."

I nodded in approval. "I like you're thinking, it's been too long since my last Dragon Eye." She grinned and handed me a plate of warm pancakes. I spread butter on them before pouring maple syrup over it all and devouring it.

Our conversation lapsed while we ate, and picked up again after we finished cleaning up.

"So what are we watching first?" I asked excitedly, sauntering over to the TV. Liv scrunched her face up as she thought.

"I'm kinda feeling Transformers."

"Good choice." I dug through the movie bins until I found all four of them.

Optimus Prime's voice and the prologue of the first film soon filled the room.

Just as I settled down onto the couch, my phone buzzed.

 _Who the hell is texting me? I never get texts._

Olivia noticed me taking my phone from my pocket and she snorted.

"The rare occurrence of a text, I see. Who is it?"

I almost dropped my phone when I read the new message from a number I didn't recognize. I quickly erased the text and turned my phone off.

"Just a telemarketer," I squeaked. Liv raised her eyebrows in slight disbelief, but thankfully didn't pursue the matter further.

The message was burned into my skull.

 _4th ave & E 12 street. 1 am. Alone._

••• 影の秘密 •••

An alarm on my phone went off, making it vibrate on the coffee table. My eyes snapped open and I hastily turned it off, glancing fearfully over at Olivia. Her snoring was undeterred, which I took as a good sign.

I crept silently into my room, stuffing a backpack with a pen and my notebooks, then snuck toward the door, and pulled my jacket and shoes on. My hand, however, refused to turn the doorknob.

I bit my lip, _I shouldn't be doing this._ I shook my head sharply, _stop. Just do it, you'll never have another chance like this._

I sucked in a deep breath and slipped out the door quietly, pulling my hood up to hide my red hair from familiar eyes that could possibly tell Olivia about me sneaking out.

I was careful on my way to the rendezvous, probably the most cautious I'd ever been. I kept the same average walking pace, allowed myself to be jostled by other people, and didn't speak a single word to anyone. Completely incognito. I felt pride bloom in my chest for a moment, before it was overtaken by guilt. I shut my eyes, drowning out everything and washing it all away.

My phone buzzed against my hand in my pocket, telling me I'd arrived at my destination. I turned down the nearest alley, swiftly climbing a fire escape to the roofs.

My phone read 1:03 am.

 _I made some good time._

"Hello?" I called tentatively.

I didn't realize how on edge I was until I almost jumped out of my skin when he spoke from behind me.

"You came."

 **AN: I know, I used the address from the movie I'm sorry I'm kinda uncreative.**

 **Also, somebody please help me name these chapters, they're getting pretty bad XD**


	11. 10 A New Friend

"Holy _sh-!_ " And I _swear_ to Jesus I jumped five feet into the air.

"Woah. Sorry." He chuckled. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Well congrats, not many people can manage it," I grumbled.

He tilted his head at me, amused.

"You look exactly like you did three years ago," he mused.

I crossed my arms. "Thanks. I love knowing that I look like I'm thirteen."

He looked taken aback. "Isn't it supposed to be a compliment?"

I snorted. "Yeah, when you're like, forty."

"Oh, sorry." He laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're the first person I've talked to, so cut my social skills some slack."

My eyes widened. "Wait. You've never talked to anyone before? _Ever_?"

He shook his head.

" _No one!?_ Not even another," I gestured to him, searching for words, "...turtle?"

Another head shake. "As far as I know, I'm the only one."

Without a second thought, I swung my bag off my shoulder and snatched a notebook and pen from it. I sat down on the roof, flipping to a new page and clicking my pen, writing down everything I now knew about him. He crouched down in front of me, watching in confusion and a bit of suspicion.

"What are you doing?"

"How do you think I managed to find you after all these years, genius?" He shrugged and I sighed, tapping the notebook with the end of my pen. "Documentation. And a shit load of research."

His eyes seemed to light up with curiosity, and I grinned.

"Do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

He shook his head and settled down beside me.

"Alright -" I caught myself before diving straight into questions like 'what the hell are you?' and 'why the hell can you speak English?' instead, I decided to actually get to know him first. "So, what's your favourite colour?"

He raised his non-existent eyebrows and gestured to all the blue items that decorated him.

"Is this not a good enough indication for you?"

"Obviously not," I mumbled, as I wrote down blue. I frowned when I realized something.

"What's your name?"

"Leonardo, but I prefer just Leo."

I grinned. "Cool, I'm Raiya." I twirled my pen. "So what's your favourite song?"

He shrugged. "I haven't heard many modern songs, but I like I Gotta Feeling."

"Okay, what's your favourite food?"

"Mediterranean pizza."

"What's your favourite movie?"

"I've only seen a few, but probably Bourne."

"Really!? Which one?" I asked excitedly.

"There's more than one?" He asked, surprised.

"Yeah, there's four. Identity, Supremacy, Ultimatum and Legacy. Which one did you see?"

He shrugged helplessly. "I have no idea."

I laughed. "That's okay. What's your favourite book?"

"I haven't read many, but I really liked Tarzan."

I looked up from my notebook in surprise. "There's a book?"

"Uhm, yeah. By Edgar Rice Burroughs," he said in confusion. Then I remembered that he'd never seen the movies about Tarzan.

"Oh, okay. I've just seen the movies, I didn't know there was a book."

His eyes lit up with excitement. "There's a movie?" I almost laughed at his amazement.

"Yeah, but I don't know how much it is like the book. So what's your favourite season?"

"Spring," he shivered, "winter is too cold."

I nodded without looking up from writing. 'Agreed. What's your favourite pastime?"

"Being above ground."

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Are you usually _not_ about ground?"

"Well I live in the sewers and I can't exactly go out during the day or else I'll be seen."

I wrinkled my nose. "How long ago did you lose your sense of smell?"

He chuckled. "You get used to it."

"I'd hope so. So how did you learn English?"

"Exactly how you did. I grew up hearing it from the people on the streets and I slowly got the hang of it."

"How long have you lived in New York?"

"As long as I can remember."

"How old are you?"

"Seventeen."

"Seventeen years in the sewers?" I murmured. "Alone?"

He nodded solemnly and I felt a pang of pity. I decided to ask a happier question.

"When's your birthday?"

Leo shrugged. "Uh, I'm not exactly sure," he admitted. I cringed, _nice going Raiya._ Leo continued, "a while ago I tried figuring it out and I narrowed it down to around April. I just guessed my age and counted the years since then, and I'm pretty sure I'm seventeen."

 _You are so stupid,_ I scolded myself silently.

"So...what are you then?"

He seemed to hesitate, then exhaled deeply.

"I don't know about that either. I just somehow became _this_. I don't remember when or where or _why,_ I just remember living below the city."

"And training as a _goddamn ninja._ " I laughed.

He grinned. "Pretty cool, huh?"

"Wait, you really are a ninja? I was just kidding about that."

Leo grabbed the twin swords from his shell and twirled them around as best he could while sitting down.

"What, you thought these were just for show?"

I peered in wonder at the blade, sharpened to a deadly edge.

"Why would you want to be a ninja?"

"Well, I'll be honest with you. I found a Ninjutsu book in the sewers one day and I was so bored that I read it and learned from it." He laughed sheepishly.

"Oh my _god,_ " I said in feigned horror, "you were _so_ bored you resorted to reading a _book?_ Man, people who read those for fun must be _insane._ "

"I don't hate books," he argued.

I smiled. "Right. So...why do you save people?"

"I don't know. I guess I just hate bullies, and this city has too many of them."

I nodded, putting my notebook and pen off to the side and bringing my knees up to my chest.

"That makes sense. Somebody has to keep all those creepy jerks in check, and the police sure as hell don't." I glanced over at him and smiled. "Thank you. You do so much and you don't get any credit for it."

Leo shrugged. "It's not all that bad. I like helping people, even if most of them aren't crazy like you and track me down to say thank you."

My face heated uncontrollably.

 _Thank God it's dark out._

"Okay, I'm actually really embarrassed about that. I'm really sorry for being like the stalker of the century."

He laughed. "No worries, it's nice knowing that you still appreciate what I did for you so long ago."

"Yeah, well ending up like the girl in Taken wasn't exactly at the top of my bucket list."

He shot me a questioning look. And I swore to myself. _Damn, I keep forgetting this guy's only seen like six movies that probably range from Old Yeller to The Last Samurai._

"It's a movie, where this girl gets taken by some sketchy guys and, yeah, just don't worry about it." I laughed and he nodded slowly.

"How often do you come up here?" I asked, breaking the short-lived silence.

"Every night. Sometimes during the day if I'm really bored."

"Is that why you saved me during the day but not anyone else?"

He nodded. "I figured it was worth the risk of being seen."

"So...does that make you nocturnal?"

"Weeeell, not really. I don't have to sleep much, and I don't get tired easily. But when I am tired, a two or three hour nap wakes me up. I guess it just seems nocturnal because I only come above ground at night."

"That would be nice during the school year." I laughed.

"What's school like?" He asked almost wistfully,

"Ugh. Don't even get me started. I could rant for _days_ about that hellhole."

"It can't be that bad," he argued.

"Well yeah, it just makes it worse that everybody says 'oh high school was the best years of my life' and then it turns out to be hell because you have no friends and you have to take the dumb kid classes because you're stupid, and it's just really _not_ fun." I shrugged. "The teachers don't give a shit because most of the students don't give a shit, so when kids like me try they don't acknowledge it and you get a shit mark for your hard work."

"Oh." Leo nodded. "That doesn't sound a lot like I thought it would be."

"Yeah. But looking back at it, elementary wasn't that bad...but I also had friends then."

He frowned. "How come you have no friends?"

I shrugged. "Beats me. But I don't really care, I have my sister and my uncle. Friends would just distract me from school." I seemed to register my words a few moments after I said them and I hastily recovered. "No, not you Leo. I don't mean you, I meant friends I would see and talk to during school. Anyways, it's summer, I don't have to go back for another month and a half."

He smiled and opened his mouth to say something but a scream followed by a desperate 'help!' rang out across the city, shattering the peaceful air around us.

The turtle jumped to his feet,

"Sorry Raiya, I have to go, I'll see you later!" He called as he ran off toward the cry of help.

I watched him disappear into the darkness before collecting my pen and notebook and heading back home.


	12. 11 Getting to Know Each Other

_"Why are you so tired?"_ Olivia asked after I yawned yet again.

I shrugged as I sipped my coffee. "I have no idea."

 _"You woke up two hours ago, how can you possibly be tired?"_ She repeated, a hint of frustration detectable in her voice.

"Hey. We stayed up late last night," I said in a poor attempt to defend myself.

 _"Eleven o'clock is not late."_

"Eleven!?" I sputtered, "more like midnight!" She grumbled something unintelligible before changing the subject.

 _"Did you get any replies for jobs?"_ She asked hopefully.

I shrugged. "Haven't checked."

 _"Raiya! Check right now!"_

"Fine," I sighed and took the phone from my ear. I switched Liv to speaker before clicking out, a red _1_ in the corner of my messages app caught my eye and I tapped on it curiously.

 _"Well?"_ She prompted.

"Hang on," I mumbled.

A new a message sat unread from another number I'd never seen before. I knew it was from Leonardo right away, he'd sent me a different address with a different time around two hours ago. I deleted the conversation and opened my mail app, refreshing it for any new emails. One popped up, causing my phone to vibrate.

 _"Who is it?"_ Olivia asked impatiently.

"Central Park Zoo," I announced and quickly scanned over the email. "They have an opening for a part time trash collector, ticket booth girl, and educator in the Tropic Zone. They said to send a copy of my resume and the position I'd like and they'll consider me."

 _"That's awesome!"_ She squealed. I winced at the volume of her voice through the phone's speaker.

"Liv chill out, you're going to blow my phone's speaker."

 _"Oh, sorry. I'm just so excited!"_

I snorted. "Yeah, more excited than I am."

 _"Unless something is movie or pizza related I'm always more excited than you. So what are you going to say?"_ I drank from my mug of warm coffee.

"Well I'd love to say I can't accept but you would murder me, so I guess I have to tell them I want the education-person-job.

She sighed in exasperation. _"Educator."_

"That. Thank you," I said as I typed out a response.

 _"I have to go, my lunch break is over. I'll see you tonight, and please try to send a polite response to the zoo."_

"Don't worry, I got this." I slid the mouse over and tapped send with a flourish.

••• 影の秘密 •••

That night, I snuck out again to meet Leo.

Thankfully, he'd chosen a rendezvous relatively close to the apartment. This time I decided to climb out the window in my room and onto the roof where I quietly descended the fire escape. I pulled my hood up before turning onto the sidewalk.

At my phone's vibration, I immediately darted down the alleyway I was closest to and climbed a fire escape to the roof. I was right on time.

"Leo?" I called hesitantly, squinting through the darkness in an attempt to spot the turtle.

"Hey." I jumped at his voice, but not nearly as much as last night.

"Okay, you need a bell." I laughed, brushing strands of hair out of my face.

"Sorry," he apologized with a sideways grin. I waved it away and settled down on the roof.

"So what happened last night?" I asked.

"Oh, that woman I ran off to save?" Leo sat down beside me. "Some men stole her purse. Sorry I had to leave so suddenly."

I shrugged. "That's okay. I only had one question left." I pulled out my notebook and pen, returning to the page I'd written on last night.

Leo's gaze flickered over to me. "Shoot."

"Okay, before you can disappear into the shadows again can I quickly document your appearance?" I asked, almost nervously. A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth.

"So you want to draw me?" My face heated but I kept my cool.

"Well if you want to remove the technicality of it all, then yes."

"Alright. What do you want me to do?" I readied my pen and analyzed the shape of his face.

"Just don't run off."

After a while of Leonardo watching my pen glide across the paper to form his face and our eyes locking when I glanced up at him before looking away, I decided to break the awkward air between us.

"Okay, this is weird." I laughed lightly. "You need to talk about something to make it less weird." Leo nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Can I ask you a few questions?"

"Fire away." I moved on to draw the outline of his round eyes, but left his irises untouched so I could colour them later. He didn't take long to consider his first question.

"What's your favourite colour?"

A grin crept up my face, matching his. "Red."

"What's your favourite season?"

"Summer. If I could, I would hibernate all winter. I _swear_ my spirit animal is a bear."

"A redhead bear," he corrected with a smile. "Which leads me to my next question, is that your natural hair colour?" I grinned and pulled a strand of auburn hair from my under my hood and above my lip like a moustache.

 _"Au naturel."_

Leo chuckled. "That's pretty cool. What's your favourite animal? A bear?"

"Nope. Kinda the opposite actually, I like sugar gliders." His forehead creased in confusion.

"What is that?"

"Like a cute little monkey but more dog-like I guess. I swear they're the cutest things in the world. Here, I'll show you." I pulled my phone out and googled images of the possum breed.

"Those are some big eyes," was all he said. I rolled my eyes and pocketed my phone, then picked up my pen and continued drawing.

"What's your favourite song?"

"So Over You by The Mission District."

"Hey wait, I think I've heard it before." I started humming it, the tune now stuck in my head. He nodded and tapped his finger against his leg to the beat, then sang a few words.

"I'm so over you!" I cringed and my humming abandoned Leo's voice, leaving him without a tune and beat.

"And all the things that..." He glanced at me like _where the hell did my backup go?_

"I didn't sign up for a solo," he said. I laughed and shrugged.

"I was stunned to silence by your singing."

He nodded. "An acceptable answer. What's your favourite movie?"

"Now You See Me."

"Really? I thought you'd say some horror-zombie movie."

I grinned. "Well I do love horror-zombie movies, but Dave Franco is in it and I like how they're magicians."

"Favourite book?"

"The Revenge of Seven."

"Oh. Well that sounds awfully violent, I'm not surprised. Is your favourite food something spicy?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Sorry to disappoint you."

"What is it then?"

"Mmmmm...either pizza or lettuce." Leo's head jerked in surprise.

"Like just plain lettuce?" I nodded and he laughed, "well that's interesting." I shrugged and breathed a laugh.

"I know. Call me a rabbit."

"What about your favourite subject?"

"Physics. Basically the only thing I'm good at."

"That's probably not true. What's your favourite pastime?"

"Drawing, watching movies or flying." Leo looked baffled and I smiled, "my uncle is a helicopter pilot here in New York so he gives me lessons like twice a week."

"Oh. Did you grow up in New York?"

"No, I lived in Arizona until I turned twelve."

"Why did you leave?" My heart clenched and my hand froze up.

"Me and Olivia, my sister, moved here to...get away from our family. We knew we'd be okay because Uncle Tom was here if we needed him. That's why he's teaching me to fly. So I can get into a good post secondary and get a good job since pilots earn good money." Leo watched me carefully, his bright eyes saddened.

"Why would you want to get away from them?"

"It's...a bit complicated." It really wasn't, I just didn't want to talk about it. He nodded and changed the subject.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"When's your birthday?"

"July first." I looked down and started drawing again, hoping he wouldn't notice that it was only a few days ago.

"Oh, that was like three days ago, happy belated birthday."

 _Yep, there it is._ I laughed. "Thanks."

"Okay, I'm starting to run out of questions...Oh, if you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?"

" _Probably_ Iceland."

"Really, why?"

I shrugged. "The black sand beaches, all the amazing scenery and hikes...I actually think you can go on hikes through glaciers there."

"Sounds cold," he laughed "what's your full name?"

"Emmalyn Raiya Carter."

"You go by your middle name?"

"Yeah," my face flushed, embarrassed, "I'm not a huge fan of Emmalyn. Too much of a mouth full." I set my pen down and examined the finished drawing. The empty eyes made Leo look possessed, but otherwise, I was satisfied. He craned his head to look at it but I quickly flipped the notebook shut.

"Nope. Not allowed."

"Why?"

"Because I'm not done. I need to colour something first, then you can see." I stood and put my stuff in my bag before swinging it over my shoulder. "I have flight training in the morning and if I crash a helicopter from lack of sleep Uncle Tom is going to kill me, so I should get going. Will I see you again tomorrow night?" I asked hopefully, stepping towards the fire escape. His electric eyes were the only sign that he was still on the roof; partly concealed within the darkness.

"Maybe."


	13. 12 Broken Trust

The day passed by at a snail's pace.

It was like watching one of those documentaries or videos teachers too tired to teach would pull up during class, then you had to fight an infinite battle against sleep and consciousness like it was World War III, and you prayed that it would just end soon so you could get the hell out of there and do something fun. That was me the entire day; through flight training, talking with Olivia over the phone, grocery shopping, making dinner and even finishing the drawing of Leo. Colouring in his bright blue eyes only made me even _more_ anxious to see him again.

I almost thought I wasn't going to see him again tonight, until I received a text from yet another new number with another new address and time while I was out shopping.

Olivia had asked what was up with me after we'd cleaned up dinner.

"What do you mean?" I asked, feigning total obliviousness.

"I don't know, you're just acting really weird." She said, repeating herself. "Like you're all anxious and impatient and excited, why?"

 _Goddamnit I have to be the worst liar ever._ I glanced over at her as if she'd lost her mind. Liv threw her hands in the air.

"Oh don't give me that look. You know what I'm talking about, why are you acting like this?"

"I'm not acting like anything." I said innocently. "I mean I'm tired, but that's it." She watched me in disbelief...and disappointment. My heart wrenched and I averted my gaze before she could read my expression.

 _I have to get out of here before I explode._ I forced a small smile and dried my hands on a dish towel.

"I'm serious. I'm gonna go to bed early to catch up on sleep," I swiftly left the kitchen, "goodnight." My sister remained silent, driving the scalding blade of guilt deeper into my chest. It took everything in me to contain the scream of frustration. I closed my bedroom door behind me, leaning against it and squeezing my eyes shut.

 _I can't do it anymore. It's only been three days, but I just can't._ I rubbed my temples, keeping a headache at bay. _I have to tell her._

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Hello? Leo?" He appeared from nowhere, as per usual.

"Hey. I thought you weren't going to show up for a while, you're usually right on time."

"Oh, yeah sorry about that. My sister took a while to fall asleep. I-I need to talk to you about something." The smile fell from his face and he stepped closer to me.

"What's wrong?" I bit my lip.

"I can't keep lying to my sister. Every time I'm around her I feel like I'm going to explode. And when I have to lie about why I'm tired or why I quit my research it _kills_ me. We're supposed to trust each other, Leo, I haven't lied to Liv in _four years._ We've always told each other the truth, it's how we've gotten along living alone for so long. And I'm no fortune teller but I just feel like this is going to tear us apart. I can't do it anymore, I have to tell her." His eyes flashed with fear.

"Raiya...I can't let you do that," he said, voice dangerously low.

"Why?" I demanded. "Why is it _so_ bad if two people know about your existence?"

"Because...it's-just nobody can know, alright?"

I scoffed. "No, _not_ alright! Why the hell did you tell me, then? Huh?"

"Because," he said, voice soft, "you found me. I don't know how but you did. You saw me, and I can't erase your memory, and...because you didn't scream. And when I recognized you, I just froze and I couldn't run off."

"She's my _sister,_ and if I tell her you saved me and that you're a good person she'll trust me. But if I continue with this lie, she _really_ won't appreciate it." He shrugged helplessly.

"I'm sorry, I can't let you. It's too dangerous to have information about me floating around the city uncontrolled." I narrowed my eyes.

"Dangerous to _who?_ Are you bullshitting me?"

"No!"

"Then how can it _possibly_ be dangerous!?"

"It just is!" I threw my hands up and groaned.

"You know what? I don't care. I'm going home." Leo was in front of me, blocking off my escape before I could even lift a foot towards it. The intensity in his eyes made me take a step back,

"Are you working for them?" He demanded.

"What? Working for who?"

"You know who I'm talking about," he growled.

Panic surged through me. _I'm not sure I like this side of Leo._ When I moved to take another fearful step back, his swords were in his hands faster than my eyes could follow. I stopped in my tracks and held my hands up.

I swallowed. "Look, I have _no idea_ what you're talking about." His eyes flickered from my gaze for a moment,

"I'm not sure if I can trust you anymore," he admitted solemnly.

"Leo, _please,_ " I pleaded, "I'm telling you the truth. I'm not working for anyone, I've never had a job in my life."

"If you're telling the truth, then I'm sorry." He moved faster than light and the next thing I knew, my world fell into darkness.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Oh my god, _still!?_ You've been asleep _forever!_ "

 _Olivia?_

"What the hell?" I muttered, sitting up in my bed groggily.

"Oh good, I did _not_ want to arrange a funeral." She spun in circles in my swivel chair beside my desk. In our on a roof. Not talking to a mutant turtle.

 _What the hell happened?_

"What the hell happened?" I asked, rubbing my eyes. She raised her eyebrows.

"Nothing interesting," she muttered. "You've just been asleep forever."

"What time is it?"

"Almost three."

 _Leo._

"Where's my phone?" I demanded, jumping to my feet.

"Woah, calm down. It's right here." She handed it to me and walked out of my room. "You're not very popular though, so don't get too excited." My phone opened in my notes, where an address and time were typed out, along with a brief message,

 _Before you tell your sister or anyone else, give me a chance to explain tonight._

 _\- L_

My mind was racing.

 _What does that mean? Why does Leo still want to see me? What the hell happened last night?_


	14. 13 A Family of Mutants

He was there before I could even open my mouth to call for him.

"You've got a lot of explaining to do," I snapped.

"I know, I'm sorry I-"

"What the hell happened last night? What did you do? And how did you get into my phone?" He blew his breath out and spoke in a rush.

"I hit a pressure point on your neck that knocked you out and I took you to the lair where Donnie scanned you and checked to see if you were working for the Foot and then he got me into your phone to leave you a message I'm really sorry but I-"

"Who's Donnie!?" I demanded. "What have you not been telling me?" Leo stepped forward but I quickly moved out of reach.

"Come with me," he said. "I'll show you."

"Show me what?" I asked warily.

"My home, my family, the truth, everything, come on."

 _His family?_ I squeaked in surprise when he scooped me up and jumped right of the building and into the alley below. I held back a yell and clung tightly to his neck.

 _This guy is insane._ I barely felt a thing when we reached solid ground.

"Raiya?" I removed my face from it's hiding spot in his shoulder and looked up at him. I punched his chest.

"Ow." He frowned, even though we both knew he barely felt it.

"A warning would've been nice," I muttered. He lowered me back to the ground and kneeled down to haul a manhole cover from it's place in the pavement, then he gestured for me to go down first. I sighed and began to climb down into the damp, underground tunnel. Leo followed and moved the manhole back into place before dropping down beside me. He glanced over at me, noting my look of disgust.

"It's not a far walk," he said reassuringly and began leading me through the maze.

It was actually quite a long time before Leo stopped in front of a metal porthole kind of door. Leo clicked on his transmitter and spoke into it.

"He's still gone right?"

A moment later there was a reply. _"Yep, it's all clear."_ I frowned.

"Who is that? Who were you talking about?"

"One of my brothers, I was just making sure our Sensei was still gone before bringing you inside, don't worry." He fiddled with something on the door that I couldn't see past his huge frame, then he pushed it open effortlessly. He jumped inside, allowing me to finally see past him.

I couldn't really make out much though, since I had to squint my eyes from the sudden bright light from inside the open doorway. I jumped and Leo caught me, lowering me to the ground. I watched as he reached up and locked the metal door before taking note of where I was.

It was almost like a _literal_ man cave, if you didn't focus on the unpleasant smell.

We stood in a huge octagonal room that had a raised octagonal dais in the middle of a depression in the floor. Far above us, a fan turned slowly. Three of the eight walls had big arches in them and led to other rooms. The other five walls were solid, aside from a few big, circular ports like the one we just came in from and a small upper walkway that allowed access to more ports. A bunch of weapons including daggers, nunchucks, long metal or wooden staffs and swords like Leo's hung on the wall beside where we entered. Wires and pipes ran everywhere along the walls, along with an insane amount of graffiti. Music blared and voices boomed from somewhere in the underground fortress.

It abruptly shut off and a voice called Leo's name.

"Yeah?" He yelled back.

"Is the girl with you again?"

He looked over at me with a smile. "Yeah."

"Dead, alive or comatose?"

"Alive." There was a short pause of silence.

"Holy shit," the same voice whispered, "noway. She's awake this time...how do I look?"

"Like you live in the sewers," another snorted.

"Guys, guys, she can hear us," a third voice warned and for a moment they went quiet again.

"Hey beautiful!" The first one shouted. The others hurriedly shushed him, one hissing 'Mikey' at him angrily.

"How about you get over here and introduce yourselves," Leo called, grinning.

"Uh, I don't know if I can-" A short, light green turtle stumbled from the shadows of an archway. He had grey-blue eyes almost exactly like my own, wore an orange mask, orange and black basketball shorts with a grey hoodie tied around his waist and a thick gold chain looped around his neck. Backpack straps tied a weird looking skateboard to his shell, a transmitter like Leo's and a pair of big orange sunglasses were also clipped on the straps. A scar sat just above his chin. A big, black tattoo identical to Leo's covered his entire left shoulder, and another of cursive writing ran down his forearm. Lengths of thin orange and grey rope encircled his arms in random patterns, as did tape across his hands and wrists.

"Raiya, right?" He asked nervously. I nodded, feeling like I was being introduced as Leo's girlfriend to the rest of his family. He cracked this huge, infectious grin, "I'm Michelangelo, better known as Mikey. Sorry Leo kept you away from us for so long, girl."

"It was four days," he argued.

"Ninety-six hours is like ninety-six _years,_ bro." Two other turtles appeared behind him, slightly obscured by darkness. Both taller than Leonardo and Mikey, the skinnier one approached me first.

"Hi, I'm Donatello, but uh, just call me Donnie. I'm glad to see you're conscious this time." Leo sighed heavily from behind me and I smiled.

"So am I."

Donatello was the tallest of the brothers and was less muscular than the rest. I assumed from his gear that he was usually the brains of the operation. He wore boots and cargo pants held up by black suspender straps, which had a transmitter clipped to it and also aided in strapping down a large ensemble of gadgets and gear on the back of his shell. Big glasses with masking tape wrapped round the bridge sat on his nose, over a purple mask. He had yellow-green eyes, and high tech goggles resting on top of his head, along with a headset that propped a small microphone next to his mouth. Purple strands of cloth laced across his fingers and up his left forearm, securing what looked like a large phone to his bicep. Unlike his two other brothers, he sported no tattoos or noticeable scars.

The other turtle, the huge one, remained silent and away from the group, partly concealed in a patch of darkness. Donnie caught me looking at him.

"Oh, don't mind Raphael, he's sort of antisocial."

"Well I _was_ planning on introducing myself but it looks like you've taken care of that for me," Raphael grumbled from the darkness.

"No! Do not enrage the hulk!" Mikey yelled desperately. Donnie nodded towards him as if he seconded the warning, then glanced over at Leo who sighed and waved his hand dismissively, a silent conversation seeming to occur among the two. I looked between them in confusion.

"Am I missing something?"

Mikey nodded. "You get used to it. Come on, I'll show you around."

 **AN: Awww I love Mikey, especially in the Nickelodeon cartoon he's just so sweet.**

 **Also, sorry if I missed describing any of the turtles' gear.**

 **And I'm** ** _really_** **sorry if I alter the turtles' personalities, it's kinda hard to keep them similar to the movie since I only have the two movies to work off of and their cartoon personalities might accidentally get in the mix, so I'm super sorry if I mix them up! Though they will change later on as part of their character development :)**


	15. 14 The Turtle Lair

Basically every room connected to one another in some way.

One of the archways from the octagonal room led to a room filled with instruments, they called it the jam room. Another arch brought us to the turtle's bedroom. Four curved, square mattresses were supported on short pillars of metal bolted to the floor, a shelf holding a million boxes painted with spots of purple, orange, blue and red stood against a wall with a few small woodcarvings displayed on the top. Through another arch, there was a living area with furniture made up of Pizza Hut boxes. On the other side of the living room, the wall was covered in computer screens showing live videos from all over the city and the sewers. Behind the monitor wall, a cluttered desk with a bunch of computers and microphones sat. The last arch from the octagonal room led to their Sensei, Splinter's, room.

I asked Leo if their Master was like them.

"Well, sort of, he's a rat."

 _A rat!?_

"Uhm okay, wow." I laughed and shook my head. "I _really_ can't wait to hear your guys' story."

"Yeah, me too." I frowned.

"You've never heard it either?"

 _How can they not know how they became what they are?_ I sat on the couch in front of the table in the living room with him. Leo placed a box of pizza on the table in front of me. I grabbed a triangle of five cheese pizza hungrily.

 _I could really get used to this place._

"No, Sensei never told us."

"So...what _do_ you know?" I asked, taking a bite of the microwaved pizza.

"All he ever told us what that we were injected with a serum when we were really young. Sensei was a lot older than us so he raised us and taught himself Ninjutsu through an old book he found in the sewers, then he taught us. He always believed that when we grew up we would be heroes and keep the city safe. Even though he _still_ doesn't trust us to go up there and fight." I arched an eyebrow in surprise.

"But you go up there anyways?" He scrambled for an excuse.

"Only for the benefit of field experience."

"Right. So, he doesn't know about me at all?"

"Nope." I cringed.

"He won't like, turn me into an exotic pizza topping, will he?" Leo grinned.

"Nah, don't worry. He'll like you."

"Unlike your brother," I mumbled and he sighed.

"Don't mind Raphael. Like Donnie said earlier, he's not good around other people. And if he decides to talk to you, just don't let him get to you."

"What, is he even more of an asshole than he seems?" Leo seemed to consider his words carefully before saying them.

"Raph is...well, he gets angry easily. And when he's angry he tends to lash out at whoever's near him, and it's usually not very pleasant." I nodded.

"Sounds like a ray of sunshine."

"Well you know he's not always like that. Raph's a hothead, but once you earn his trust there's nothing he won't do to protect you." I tilted my head in interest and Leo smiled, "I know, it sounds crazy. And none of us have been able to bring out of him so far, but I think he's a big softie on the inside." Mikey walked in and jumped onto the couch beside me.

"Who are we talking about?" He asked, slinging and arm across my shoulders, but caught sight of the food before I could answer. "Girl have you been eating all my pizza?" He accused. I shook my head, mouth full. Donnie appeared from behind the monitors, his mouth open to say something. He raised a brow at Mikey who removed his arm and placed it on the backrest instead. Satisfied, he continued.

"Leo, Sensei should be on his way back soon, take Route C and seventh at E." Leo nodded and stood.

"Come on, we need to get you out of here before he gets back." I got up, confused.

"But aren't I supposed to meet him?"

"Yeah, but not tonight."

"Oh okay." I followed him out of the living room,

"It was nice meeting you, Raiya!" Donnie called.

"See ya later beautiful!" Mikey yelled, "oh wait! Wait wait wait!" I turned around to see him basically falling off the back of the couch, his arms outstretched towards me. "I have a very serious question!" I grinned.

"Okay?"

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Say yes." Leo hissed. I shook my head.

"Nope." The young turtle pumped his fist, then yelled as he rolled over the backrest of the couch and onto the concrete. I stifled a laugh and Leo groaned.

"Now he's never gonna leave you alone."

"Sensei should be back in half an hour!" Donnie reminded us.

"Right." Leo led me back to the entrance. As we passed through the turtles' room I saw Raphael laying in a bed out of the corner of my eye. I would've stopped to talk to him but Leo seemed to be in a hurry. He hoisted me into the round door sitting high in the wall and jumped inside after me before closing it. He took my hand and quickly led me through the tunnels, somehow making sense of Donatello's directions.

We stopped below a manhole cover eventually, he climbed up and pushed it aside for me,

"It's clear. Will you be able to find your way from here? Donnie got us as close to your apartment as he could." I nodded and stepped toward the ladder.

"I'll be fine." He spoke again before I could put a foot up.

"I know I didn't give you a good enough reason for you to not tell Olivia, but Splinter will. So wait until you talk with him before telling her anything." I nodded again and climbed out into the brisk night air. The turtle slid the cover back into place behind me and I walked away into the bustling city of New York.

 **AN: Okay so I made a map** **ahaha it literally took forever so give me break if it's a bit inaccurate, I made it as accurate as I could. The fan room's location was purely an educated guess. Also, it's not to scale, so sorry about that. Idk how to put pics up on here so if you wanna check it out, head over to my Quotev page (link in profile) and open to this chapter in TSS for the pic :)**


	16. 15 The Turtles

I returned to the lair the next night.

Leo had messaged me telling me to bring my notebooks this time, so I stood in an alley with my backpack full, occasionally glancing aver at the manhole cover sitting in the pavement.

"Raiya!" Leo hissed, peeking his head out. He waved me over and I quickly climbed down. He smiled down at me.

"Hi." I returned the smile.

"Hi. So I'm meeting your rat Sensei tonight?" I asked, following him through the tunnels.

"Yep, excited?"

"Oh super."

"Don't worry. I told him about you last night after you left so he's had twenty-four hours to calm down about it." I cringed.

"How'd he take it?"

"Not too bad. I only got five hours in the Ha'shi." I recoiled in shock.

"Five hours in the _what?_ "

"The Ha'shi. It's Sensei's form of punishment. I have to balance on cinder blocks and balance eggs on chopsticks and one on my head."

 _"For five hours!?"_ I exclaimed.

 _How the hell can he do that!? Standing on one foot is pushing my balance to the limits!_ Leo shrugged.

"It's not that bad after the first half an hour."

"Why was he so mad?" I breathed.

"Well the first rule I broke was going above ground. The second one was interfering in the lives of humans. The third was revealing myself to a human and the fourth was lying about not doing all of that. And since I'm supposed to be the most responsible of all my brothers he was even more disappointed." I frowned.

"That doesn't seem fair, why does he expect more from you than the others? Donnie seems like he'd be the least likely to break rules."

"Well I'm the oldest, and he kinda chose me to be the leader."

"You're the leader?" I glanced over at him and he smiled shyly. "That's pretty cool."

"Sort of. Raph doesn't take it very well." I snorted.

"Does he take _anything_ well?" Leo chuckled.

"Not really."

"How did he react to me?" I asked, curious. Leo grimaced.

"Almost as bad as Sensei."

"Holy shit. So he _really_ must hate me." He shook his head.

"No. He's mad at me for lying to everyone and revealing ourselves to a human. Which is why I told you not to let him get to you because he'll probably let his anger out on you, which I apologize in advance for."

"Oh no worries, I've always wanted an asshole brother." He grinned.

"I sense sarcasm."

"Yeah that tends to be a common symptom when people are around me." Leo hopped up into the circular tunnel that led to the lair entrance and glanced back at me before opening the door,

"You ready?"

"Have I ever mentioned that I _really_ don't like rats?" He grinned and swung the door open, allowing me to hear the pounding of drums, then he helped me inside. While he locked the door, I looked into the jam room to find Mikey at the drum set. He waved a drumstick in greeting and kept playing,

"Hey girl, long time no see!"

"Mikey!" Leo yelled, but his brother didn't hear him, so he yelled louder. The turtle smashed his drumsticks over the cymbals,

"Whus up, Leo?" He asked once the ringing had subsided.

"Where's Raph and Donnie?" The older turtle asked as he took his swords off his shell and hung them on the weapons wall.

"Recovering from possible ear damage," Donnie muttered, striding from the living room. He kicked one of the mattresses as he walked passed it in their bedroom,

"Raph," he said, "come on. It's about time you introduce yourself to our guest." He grumbled in annoyance but followed his brother nonetheless. He looked even scarier than he did last night when he was brooding in the shadows.

Raphael glanced over me in complete disinterest as he slipped a butterfly knife onto a strap that crossed over his chest and shell, which had a big, red Japanese character painted on it. He was huge. Almost taller than Donnie.

His arms were massive and muscular, with bands of cloth wrapped around his arms and biceps, along with multiple scars. A super defined six-pack sat above the waistline of the black pants he wore, and had tape around his bare feet. A transmitter not unlike his brothers' was also clipped near his shoulder to the leather strap that ran across his chest. He wore a worn, red bandana that had a dull white Japanese symbol on the top of his head, his bright green eyes shone through the eye openings mysteriously. He had a scar on his lip curving up toward his eye and another, larger scar on his right shoulder in the shape of a Japanese symbol.

"I'm Raphael," he said drily, "you can call me Raph." Leo sighed and opened his mouth to say something but someone else beat him to it.

"My sons. Please, do not fight in the presence of our guest." I turned to see a huge rat standing in the archway to his room.

He was shorter than the turtles, and covered in brown-grey fur, that grew longer under his chin and nose like a moustache and beard. He wore a yellow robe, a black belt, and weird, wooden sandals. The grey hair on his head was pulled back into a man-bun.

He smiled warmly and waved me over. Gripping the straps of my backpack nervously, I walked over so I stood in front of him. His room had a low table in the middle of it, with pillows lain around it. The back wall was completely made up of tightly stacked stereos.

"I am Splinter, the turtles' adopted father. Leonardo has told me much about you, Raiya." I grinned and my gaze flickered to Leo, who smiled sheepishly.

"May I see your research?"

"Oh, of course." I slipped my bag off my shoulders and handed it to him. The rat spent a few moments sifting through my many notebooks, stopping at one point to admire a page I only assumed was the drawing of Leo.

"You have a wonderful talent." My face heated.

"Thanks." Mikey immediately darted over and snatched the notebook Splinter had just set down. His mouth dropped open.

"Noway," he mused, "dudes check this out! It's Leo!" He flipped it around so his brothers could see it. Leonardo grinned and turned to me.

"That turned out pretty good." Donnie looked from the drawing to Leo repeatedly.

"How did you manage to capture his irises so accurately?" He asked, dumbfounded. Before I could say anything Leo decided to butt in.

"She coloured them while I wasn't there." Donnie blinked in astonishment and turned to me. If it was possible, my face turned an even brighter shade of red.

"Uh, I don't know I guess I just remembered what they looked like." Mikey snapped his fingers.

"Photogenic mind!"

"That's _photographic memory,_ " Donnie corrected him with a sigh. The younger turtle waved his hand.

"Same thing." He looked over at me hopefully. "Can you draw me?"

"Uhm, yeah. I can try." He pumped his fist in the air and put the notebook bag in my bag. Splinter observed with patience, as if accustomed to Mikey's displays of excitement. Once he calmed down, the rat smiled at me.

"Please, sit," he offered. I took it more as an order and sat across from him on one of the pillows. The brothers kneeled down as well, anxious to hear what their Sensei had regretted to share with them since they were children.

 **AN: I know, I kinda changed Raphael's appearance, sorry haha. I based it off his 2014 look because I'm not a huge fan of his 2016 look like** ** _at all._**

 **Btw ya'll are gonna be seeing some major character development in Raph, so rest assured that he won't be a** ** _total_** **jerk the whole time :)**


	17. 16 Explanations

"The turtles and I used to be normal. We were mutated as part of an experiment; injected with a mutagen that could heal things at a cellular level.

"Kirby O'Neil and Eric Sacks were running the experiment. Kirby originally thought it was to better the world and find a way to cure diseases using the mutagen, but he was horribly wrong. Eric Sacks had allied himself with the Footclan, having been raised in Japan by the Footclan's leader, Shredder, his heart was poisoned with greed. They planned to use the mutagen to their advantage and take over the city with it. When Kirby discovered this, he set fire to the lab and tried to destroy everything. He succeeded, but perished for his actions.

"As the lab burned, the mutagen in my blood began to take effect and I was able to break out of my cage and help the turtles. I ushered them to the sewers, where the mutagen took full effect and turned us into what we are now. We wandered around until I found this place and I raised the turtles here. One day, I chanced upon an old book discerning the art of Ninjutsu. After I taught myself, I taught the brothers. They excelled at a wondrous rate and developed a growing passion for martial arts, thankfully it kept most of them occupied during their years below the surface.

"I feared that if they left, the Footclan would find them and take them for the mutagen in their blood. Though I do believe that one day they will rise from the sewers and save the city from the Shredder's evil. And though I am extremely disappointed in Leonardo for disobeying my orders, my anger is somewhat satisfied by his actions and intentions. And it also seems that he has gained a potentially valuable ally through what he's done...

"You are the only human who knows our secret, Raiya. And with this knowledge you are in danger. The Shredder's hold over this city is very strong, he has the resources to find you, and because of that you must not tell anyone else of our existence for their safety. You must understand that. Leonardo has deemed you trustworthy of our secret and I will trust his decision, so long as the brothers also agree to this." He looked over at the turtles expectantly. Donnie was the first to recover from the shock of the revelations.

"She's done impressive research over the last three years and shows promise as an ally. I read over all her files to make sure she has no Footclan related activity, and she's completely clean. And she hasn't told anyone yet...I think she can be trusted," Donnie answered.

"Yeah, as long as she doesn't eat all my pizza, she's cool." I grinned and looked to Raph, a bit nervous for his answer. He just shrugged.

"As long as somebody watches her when she's aboveground."

I groaned inwardly, _trust the asshole brother to feel the need to stalk me._ Splinter nodded thoughtfully.

"Since you believe this watchfulness necessary, that will be your job, Raphael." The turtle's jaw clenched as well as his fists.

"Hai, Sensei," he agreed angrily through his teeth. Splinter then turned to me.

"Now there is only one other pressing matter. Have you told anyone else of our existence?"

"No...well...my sister knows everything with the exception that I've been seeing Leo every night. But I did what Leo said and told her that I gave up on the whole research thing." Splinter stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"That is an issue for another time. Is it alright if your research is kept within the lair? If it were to be seen by anyone else, we would all be in danger." I nodded.

"Of course."

"Thank you." He smiled gratefully, then turned to Leonardo. "My son, did anybody witness you meeting with Raiya?"

"Not to my knowledge, Sensei."

"Good, we must be very cautious."

"Hai Sensei," The brothers murmured simultaneously.

"Thank you, Raiya. For agreeing to keep our secret." Splinter smiled at me and I nodded.

"I want to help you guys in any way I can." I grinned at Donnie, "feel free to hijack my phone whenever you like."

••• 影の秘密 •••

"You're not very talkative, are you?" I asked

No reply. Then. "You're very observant," he grumbled, voice dripping with sarcasm. I grinned.

"Thanks." Raphael led me through the sewers until he stopped below a manhole. He peeked through the top of it, then pushed the panel out of the way,

"It's clear." He hoisted me out into an empty alley, then climbed out after me. He gazed around in wonder, as if he were in the middle of a new world.

"Have you ever been up here?" I asked.

"No." Raphael scaled the side of a building before I could say anything else.

 _Whatever._

I walked back to the apartment, glancing at the roofs every so often in an attempt to catch a glimpse of Raphael. But he was a ghost in the night.

••• 影の秘密 •••

 _"Let's go out for dinner tonight."_ Olivia offered. _"It's been forever since we did."_

"Sure, when are you going to be back?" I watched as the lines of Leonardo's body took form in the wake of my pencil on the paper in front of me.

 _"I'm getting off early today so make reservations for five."_ I nodded and flipped open my laptop.

"Where are we eating?"

 _"Doesn't matter, you choose."_ I grinned as my fingers tapped across the keyboard.

"Nice."

 _"What'd you choose?"_

"Surprise."

 _"Oh does that mean you're driving then?"_

"No that means I'm navigating."

 _"So we're going to get lost."_

"No!" I protested, "I'm a great navigator!"

 _"Riiiight. Just like how you're a great driver."_

"Hey! Can _you_ fly a helicopter?" Liv fell silent and I smiled triumphantly, "exactly. When I drive I get the controls mixed up because I'm thinking of flying."

 _"I'm amazed you even got your learners."_ She sighed and I snorted.

"So am I. I'll see you soon Liv."

 _"Alright, bye."_ I looked down at the figure drawn out before me, his swords slicing madly at black clothed assailants. The protecter of New York.

 **AN: C** **an somebody pls help me with these chapter names lol.**


	18. 17 Origins

"Where the hell did you go!?" I jumped and choked back a scream,

"Jesus _Christ!_ Don't do that!" I cried. Raphael stood on the roof outside of my window, hidden in the darkness. He stepped towards me, fists clenched at his sides.

"I _said,_ where did you go?" He repeated, his voice taking on a menacing tone. I inhaled and exhaled deeply, calming myself before I spoke.

"When?"

"When you left like three hours ago!"

"I went out for dinner with Olivia, chill."

"Who's Olivia?" He demanded through his teeth. I raised my eyebrows.

"She's my sister. So you can calm down now, Hulk." He growled.

"Let's get one thing straight here, _Strawberry_. I'm not gonna sit here and wait for you to run off and yell our existence to the whole god damn world," he towered over me, his face set in a scowl, "if you do _anything_ to put my family in danger I will _personally_ arrange your funeral." I clasped my hands to my heart.

"Oh, how sweet of you," I sang. He opened his mouth to fire back a retort when a low ring sounded from his transmitter. Raph growled and spoke into it.

"What?" Leo's excited voice poured from the device, making me wish that it was him who was here to bring me to the lair and not his jerk brother.

 _"Get Raiya over here_ now! _Donnie may have found something!"_

"Alright, we're on our way." He looked down at me with displeasure, "try to keep up Carrot top." I barely registered the nickname as my mind reeled with questions.

 _What did Donnie find? And what could they possibly need me for?_

••• 影の秘密 •••

The second my feet touched the concrete floor of the lair, Leo was calling my name. I followed his voice to the monitors in the living room, where him and Mikey stood on either side of Donnie while he sat in front of the numerous computers and keyboards. Leo turned and smiled at me as I approached, then frowned as his eyes searched for something behind me.

"Where's Raph?" I glanced around and found a three-fingered, green hand hanging off the edge of one of the beds in their room.

"Sleeping, what's up?" I asked, looking over Donnie's shoulder as he read something on one of the computer screens.

"Oh good, you're here," he said, switching to a different computer that displayed a picture of a woman's passport. Words died in my throat and my heart stopped for a moment, seizing painfully at the sight of the familiar face.

"H-how did you get that?" I asked, my voice quiet.

"I'd love to explain it all to you but it would take too long." He turned in his seat to look at me. "Is this your mother?" He asked softly. I nodded, feeling the unmistakable sting of potential tears behind my eyes. Leo reached an arm out and pulled me closer to him and I gratefully leaned against him, releasing a shaky breath.

"I can't find any record of her parents through her info, do you know their names?"

"I think they were Margaret and Ben."

"Last names?"

"My mom...her last name was Kaneko before marrying my father. But I'm not sure about my grandma's." His eyes flashed in interest and he whirled around to type madly across a keyboard. I pressed myself closer to Leo's side, trying to keep the flood of painful memories at bay. Mikey watched in boredom, almost looking like he was going to fall asleep.

"What are you doing?" Leo asked. I looked up to see what he was referring to. Jumbled masses of letters, numbers and symbols covered the monitor.

"Hacking the database of Japanese passports," he replied nonchalantly.

"Is this a normal occurrence?" I asked in astonishment.

"Yeah. How do you think he found your mom's passport?" Mikey said with a yawn. "You look just like her by the way. Kinda like a clone." His eyes widened and was about to say something else when his genius brother beat him to it,

"Raiya have you ever had your blood tested?"

"I think I'm B positive."

"Have you ever had it tested for your origin?"

"No, why?"

"When I read over your records the night Leo brought you here unconscious I noticed that your origin was unconfirmed but forgot about it right away. And this morning I remembered so I researched your father's origin and tried your mother's but I couldn't figure out who her parents are."

"Were," I corrected quietly, "why are you looking through Japanese passports? My family has always lived in America."

"Not if their surname is Kaneko. Okay, I'm in. Alright...Kaneko, Kaneko, Kaneko...here we go." Donnie scrolled through decades and decades of countless passports, the pictures of the men on each of them looking more and more Japanese as he went further down the timeline.

"My sons, what are you searching for?" I looked over to see Splinter, striding from his room and towards the monitors.

"Sensei, do you recognize the name Kaneko?" Leo asked.

"I recall reading it in a book once."

"Do you know it's origin?"

"Not entirely. I know only that some families of the name are descendants of the ancient Japanese Mononobe Clan." Donnie rolled his chair over to a different keyboard, sifting through more records. He tapped a key in triumph and spun around to face us, a huge grin on his face,

"And _some_ are descendants of the famed Samurai Kaneko Ietada. Who, _"With his martial prowess, he has established his fame in this life. His loyalty will live throughout the ages, his name imprinted on future generations and his achievements bequeathed to his descendants."_ As written by Hogen Monogatari." I recoiled in surprise.

"Are you saying that I'm related to a _samurai!?_ " He nodded and leaned back in his chair, proud of his discovery. Mikey exploded with joy, scooping me up into a huge, unexpected hug.

"That's _so cool!_ " He set me down but still grasped my shoulders as he spoke excitedly, "I bet you have some _super_ badass Samurai skills!" I glanced at Leo, who just grinned at his brother's antics. The orange-masked turtle released me and looked over at Splinter.

"Sensei we have to train her!" At that, Donnie and Leo whirled around, anticipating their Sensei's reply eagerly and I found myself doing the same.

"If Raiya wishes to study the art of Ninjutsu, I will teach her." Their gazes moved to me and my throat suddenly went dry, as if all my previous excitement had evaporated from it.

 _Become a ninja? Can I do that? What would Olivia think? What would my mother say?_ Splinter noticed my silence and inner conflict.

"It is your decision, you do not have to accept. It is years of training and commitment and you can stop whenever you'd like."

 _Why am I even hesitating? Who the hell_ wouldn't _want to become a ninja?_ A grin split my face.

"Let's do it." Mikey whooped and tackled me in another hug.

"Girl I can't _wait_ to see you in a badass kunoichi outfit!"


	19. 18 Bonding Over MK

"Can I ask you something?" I asked hesitantly. Raphael muttered something under his breath.

"You can ask me whatever the hell you want, Annie."

 _I swear to god I'm going to karate chop that scowl off his face once I learn how to._

"What does kunoichi mean?"

"A girl ninja, why?"

"Oh I forgot, you were asleep. Well Donnie found out that I'm a descendent of this famous Samurai dude, cool right?"

"Super," he grumbled. I noted his disinterest but continued just to get back at him for being an ass earlier.

"So anyways, Splinter agreed to teach me ninjutsu and Mikey said he couldn't wait to see me in a 'badass kunoichi outfit.'"

"Oh great. Knowing Mikey he'll probably get you to dress up like Jade."

"Jade?" I asked, sidestepping a puddle of something nasty in the sewer tunnel, "like from Mortal Kombat?" He glanced over at me in surprise.

"Yeah, how'd you know?"

"My sister and I play it all the time," I grinned, "you guys play it too?"

"Yeah, when we're all bored."

"Oh cool, we should have a tournament tomorrow night." I swear I saw a ghost of a smile flicker across his face.

"Only if you want to get your ass kicked."

"Oh, is that a challenge, Hulk?"

"You bet your ass it is."

••• 影の秘密 •••

It wasn't until after I'd burrowed under my bedcovers that I realized I'd had a conversation with Raph without him exploding with anger, and that I actually sort of enjoyed it. I glanced through my window.

 _Maybe he really is a softie,_ I thought hopefully.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Reach deeper," Splinter's voice resonated through the darkness behind my eyelids, "deeper."

"What am I looking for again?" I asked.

"Anything: a feeling, a smell, a noise, a memory; something ancient and untouched...alien." I focused and strained my mind further. When nothing happened again, I sighed in frustration.

 _How the hell can accessing ancestral memories even be possible? Has Splinter done this before? Does he even know what he's doing?_ I scrunched my face up tight for a few seconds, releasing all the tension built up in it. I attempted Splinter's method of retrieving the buried memories once more before giving up again.

 _It just doesn't feel right._ This time, instead of focusing and trying to pull them forth, I relaxed everything, both body and mind, hoping that instead, I would just fall into them.

 _Or fall asleep,_ I thought as I felt the familiar sensation of slipping further from my body and curling up inside my brain, the blackness becoming more black.

 _I can't fall asleep during my first training session!_ In an attempt to bring myself back to reality, I flexed my fingers. But instead of feeling them clasp together, I felt a firm leather grip beneath them. I gasped, immediately jolting out of the mirage, eyes snapping open. The rat lifted one eye open questioningly.

"I-I felt something. In my hands. A...like a round leather grip."

"The hilt of a katana I presume."

"A katana?" I asked. He nodded, closing his eyes again.

"See if you can figure it out through your memories." I stopped myself before sighing for the millionth time and resumed the process of seemingly falling asleep, since it seemed to work so well before. I didn't know what I was looking for since I couldn't exactly Google my way through ancestral memories. So I just let it take me, kind of like laying back on a surfboard and letting the waves carry you out to sea.

I smelled fire;

Heard the swish of what sounded like Leo's swords cutting through the air;

Felt my body move fluidly through katas;

Saw a pair of grey eyes reflected back at me in the long blade of a katana;

It was like reliving a dream; remembering enough to see only flashes of it, and forgetting enough to comprehend close to nothing.

The taste of blood shook me from my reverie.

Splinter watched me with curiosity.

"Did you find what you were searching for?" He asked.

 _If you count a mouthful of blood, then yes._ I opened my mouth to say as much when I stopped to think. My mind had spoken the word without even thinking about it, when I saw the reflection of the eyes in the sword blade; the _katana_ blade.

"I think so. They're the same swords that Leo uses, right?"

"Indeed they are. How did you discover this?"

"I saw eyes reflected in the blade of one and the word kind of just came to me." I shrugged, then remembered another word I'd encountered as well, "what are katas?"

"Exercises for an individual practicing a form of martial arts, did you see this word as well?"

"Not exactly, I could feel myself doing one and I thought _'hey this a kata.'_ " His dark eyes shone with excitement.

"Interesting. How do you access these memories?"

"Well, instead of trying to pick through my mind, I relax and let myself be carried kinda like when you're floating in water, then it sort of feels like falling asleep and then I get small flashes of sights and feelings and it's really weird." He nodded in agreement, then closed his eyes; a silent order to continue. I slipped back into the dreamy trance easier now, and soon enough, memories were flying past me like the flickers of a light bulb.

I heard the pounding of metal;

Felt the heat of a fire;

Tasted smoke;

Smelled the smelting of metal;

Saw the glowing orange of heated metal being pounded into shape;

I felt the soreness of my body following training;

Heard laughter;

Tasted warm gyoza;

Saw cherry blossom petals drifting through the air;

Smelled the sea;

I tasted dorayaki;

I heard the howl of wolves;

I felt the sharp bite of cold metal against my cheek, the skin open beneath the blade with a sting, the hot blood flow down my face;

I felt the realness of it all, as if embodying the mind of the victim.

Then, I felt the loss of feeling in my right hand, then the burning waterfall of blood around the fingers that clutched the stump where my hand once was.

I screamed, like they had.

I watched my life pour from my wounds.

I smelled blood. I tasted it, I saw it, I felt it.

I heard my pulse come to a halt at a painfully slow pace, giving me time to writhe and cry out in pain.

"-with her!? Raiya! _Raiya!_ Wake up! You're okay!" My eyes snapped open. A smirking Japanese man stood over me, his blades dripping with blood; _my_ blood. I screamed again.

"Raiya! It's me! It's Leo! I'm not going to hurt you! Please, just calm down! It's alright! It's alright." I blinked and he was gone; replaced by a familiar face with sparking blue eyes. I was cradled in his strong arms, my heart racing. I pushed strands of unruly hair from my face and took a deep breath,

"I'm sorry," I gasped, "I-It just looked so real, I felt it." I met his gaze, "you were a scary ass Japanese dude like two seconds ago, I swear to God." He laughed lightly and helped me to my feet.

"You scared me. It looked like you were having a nightmare."

"Yeah girl, don't do that again," Mikey said, appearing behind Leo. I noted the shakiness in his voice, "I thought you were possessed or something, like that girl in that movie."

 _No, it was worse._ I rubbed my hand, just to make sure it was still there, and forced a smile to my face,

"Don't worry guys, I'm fine." Splinter must have seen right through me because he stood and said that we would continue tomorrow. Mikey nudged me with his shoulder once he'd disappeared into his room.

"Wanna go play some MK?"

"Hell yeah! I got dibs on Kitana!" I called, dashing to the monitor wall and firing up the Xbox.

"Sweet we can all be girls and have a chick fight!" Mikey looked over at Leo, who'd followed us to the living room, "uh, you can have Leo." I grinned and handed a controller to him while Mikey inserted the disk.

"Don't worry, we're gonna kick his ass. So, here's the game plan, you grab Sheeva because she has a strong X-Ray attack. Once the X-Ray is charged, I'll tag you in, you hit him with the X-Ray, then tag me back in once he starts pounding you. Got it?"

"Who's Sheeva?" I rolled my eyes.

"The big scary four armed chick. You'll know her when you see her."

"Alright dudes, we've got about two rounds, maybe three if we're lucky, before Raph shows up." Mikey said, rushing to set up the game and get it started.

"Is he any good?" Mikey scoffed.

"He's only the God of enhanced combos, and finishers, and special moves, _and_ evasion, _and-_ "

"Alright Mikey, we get it, he's good." Leo turned and whispered to me, "what's an enhanced combo?" I groaned and Mikey laughed evilly.

 **AN: I'm super sorry if any of this is offensive towards redheads! I don't mean for it to be! I actually love red hair sooo you're all beautiful 3**


	20. 19 After Effects

"Leo! Block! Block! Block! Now crouch! Oh use your X-Ray!" I watched in dismay as Mikey's character blocked Leo's X-Ray attack and used his own to finish him off. Leo sighed, accustomed to being beat by his younger brother. Donnie watched, complaining occasionally about the graphics or how unrealistic the scenarios were. Raphael picked up a controller with a grin.

"Alright, add me in."

"I dibs Raiya!" Mikey yelled. His brother only snorted and selected his character. Mikey grinned at me.

"It's you and me girl, we got this." I fist bumped him.

"Alright, this is my last round guys." Leo was up first and I dispatched him easily, but when Raph replaced his fallen partner and started wailing on me, I tagged Mikey in. But even with his blazing karate and sharp brimmed hat, he couldn't defeat him. He did take enough hits to fill up the meter though, allowing me to unleash my X-Ray attack once I was tagged back in. Mikey whooped and quickly hugged me while my character pummelled Raph's for a few seconds. But he recovered and swiftly handed our asses to us.

"Jeez, this guy's insane," I said.

"I know, try living with him. He's been the reigning champ since we were eight!" I spun around to Donnie, who leaned against the arch behind the couches and he immediately shook his head.

"Nope. I tried once. It's impossible."

Leo laughed and whispered in my ear, "I beat him." Donnie sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Video games can also make your eyesight worse," he added. Raph snorted and stood up, flicking his brother's glasses lightly.

"Right, cuz we don't need you anymore blind." He looked down at me. "We headin out?" I nodded and waved goodbye as I left the living room.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow night!"

"See ya beautiful!" Mikey called. I laughed and followed Raphael to the exit. I looked up at the door in the wall and sighed.

"You guys need to make like a cute little doggie door for me so you don't have to toss me up there every time. Or an elevator, that would be nice." He grunted in agreement and swung the door open before kneeling down and knitting his fingers together. I stepped into his hands and pulled myself into the doorway. He followed and locked the door behind me, then we walked silently through the sewers.

"So what's your favourite colour?" I asked, uncomfortable in the silence. He raised a brow at me.

"Is this your poor attempt at a conversation?"

"Yep. It's red, isn't it?"

"How'd you know?" His voice was thick with sarcasm. I shrugged.

"An educated guess. What's your favourite movie?" He remained silent for a few more moments before giving in with a heavy sigh.

"Friday the Thirteenth." I grinned.

"You like scary movies?"

"Yeah, I haven't seen many though."

"Have you seen The Conjuring?" He shook his head and my jaw dropped, "noway! Okay we're totally watching it later."

"Isn't rewatching a horror movie boring?"

"Yeah, but if you watch it with people like my sister who scream no matter how many times they've seen it, then it's worth it." I swore I heard him laugh.

"That's Mikey. Just don't sit near him or he'll hug you the whole time."

"Noted," I caught sight of the daggers hanging at his sides. I nodded to them, "what are they called?"

"Huh? Oh," he took one from his belt and spun it in his hands, "they're sai." To my surprise, he held it out to me. I took it from his hand in astonishment,

"These things are huge." I ran finger down it's blade.

"Try not to cut your hand off, I just sharpened it." At that, I quickly removed my finger and handed it back to him, shivering with the reminder of the memory I relived earlier. He grinned and placed it back on his belt, but his smile faltered when he saw my expression,

"So what happened in that exercise you and Sensei were doing?" I rubbed goosebumps from my arms.

"I relived a memory of having my hand cut off."

"Really? You saw it and everything?" I nodded.

"It was weird. Before, I was just reliving short flashes of other things like forging weapons or something. But _now,_ after _that,_ " I shook my head, "I never want to do that again."

"It was that bad?"

"I _died._ I relived the death of another person, Raph. I felt it, I saw it, everything." After a moment of silence, he spoke again.

"You're gonna have to do it again." I sighed.

"Yeah, I know."

••• 影の秘密 •••

That night, I couldn't sleep.

I kept seeing it, I kept feeling it. It wouldn't go away. It was like a video on repeat that I couldn't pause. Finally, I just gave up. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and pulled a hoodie on.

 _I need to get my mind off it._ I opened my window and poked my head out. I didn't see him at first, sitting on the roof and leaning against the outer wall of my room, focused on something in his hands. I climbed out into the brisk air and hugged my hoodie closer to me.

"Raiya?" He hissed, the ease disappearing from his stance, "what the hell are you doing out here?" I sat down beside him.

"I couldn't sleep," I mumbled, bringing my legs closer to me and resting my chin on my knees. I could feel his incredulous gaze on me but I could care less.

"Oh so climb out onto the roof, that'll help." I squeezed my eyes shut and sighed, barely taking note of the frustration obvious in his tone. My wrist twitched and I rubbed a hand over it, making sure I still had all my appendages attached,

"I keep seeing it. It won't go away. So I figured it would help if I got my mind off it." I tilted my head to look at him and caught a flash of something pale in his hands. I squinted through the darkness, momentarily forgetting about my dilemma. "What is that?" It immediately disappeared from his hands, but I'd seen it, and my curiosity wasn't so easily deterred. "Nope. Once I see something you'll need an army to keep me from it, let me see." I reached my hand over and blindly searched for what he'd been fiddling with.

Raphael gave in with a sigh and held it up for me to see. I squinted at it through the darkness.

 _Is that a rock?_ I took it from his hands to see it better.

"Don't give yourself a splinter," he warned.

 _Rocks can't give you splinters._ I was confused until I realized it was wooden, and shaped kind of like a disproportionate Y. My mind flickered back to my tour of the lair the other night; of the little figurines scattered across the organizer shelf in their room.

"Oh! You carved all those little wood statues in your guys' room!"

"Yeah," he said, voice dry as if he wasn't proud of his creations.

 _Why would he not be proud? Carving's so cool!_

"What's this one going to be?" I asked, handing it back to him.

He took it from me. "You'll see." I frowned in disappointment when he lowered the roughly shaped wood to the roof beside him and slipped his knife back into the strap of leather crossing his chest.

"Can I watch you carve it?" I asked hopefully. He paused in surprise, then let his hands fall from his knife as he thought.

"Only if you do that memory thing again," he decided, looking over at me with an almost mischievous glint in his mysterious green eyes. I recoiled in surprise.

"What? Why?" I couldn't go back to that field littered with bodies; to that evil, victorious smirk and that drowning feeling of doom as he approached my wounded body. I squeezed my eyes shut against the image, desperately warding it away.

"Because if you don't then you're just going to grow more and more afraid of it until you never do it again and then it'll start to consume you. So just do it once." To my immense surprise, his voice was laced with a barely detectable ribbon of concern. Nonetheless, I opened my mouth to protest but he cut me off, "I'll be right here, you'll be fine." He watched me expectantly, waiting for me to give in. I looked at him defiantly and I clenched my teeth together in anger, but it evaporated when I grudgingly realized he was actually right. I exhaled in defeat.

"Fine." I sat up straighter and closed my eyes, trying to relax despite the obvious fact that he was staring at me. My exhaustion must've helped because before I knew it, I was whisked back into the trance I knew so well.

 **AN: I kinda feel like my writing is a bit rushed? Does it seem like it's lacking detail and rushes through everything too fast? Please let me know what you guys think of my writing so I can fix it if I need to!**


	21. 20 Rooftop Talks

Smoke.

Gun fire.

Blood.

Screams.

Metal.

And then I was back.

The moment I saw the man's face flicker past my vision I almost tapped out, but I knew that Raphael was right, and there was noway I was going to back out in front of him. So I numbed it all out; the feeling, the taste, the smell, the sound. I only saw. And despite the entire memory flickering in and out of focus continuously, it was as shockingly clear as water after a rainstorm.

I saw him stride toward me achingly slow. I saw myself try to shuffle away with my wounded legs. I saw him draw a katana from a sheath at his side, and drag it across the tips of the bloody, matted grass. He pressed the blade against my cheek, drawing blood there first. It was only when I threw an arm up to defend myself did he hack off my hand. He grinned maliciously, relishing in my pain. His blade proceeded to cut across my entire body, causing my blood to run like a scarlet flood through the grass.

Then it all became hazy, and it disappeared. But it wasn't over.

I watched it replay over and over again until it was easy; until I gave no emotional reaction. Then, my hold on the memory slipped. I lost control and and spiralled into another memory. I tried to shake myself from it's grip, but I was already in too deep.

I was sparring weaponless.

It was all so fast and silent that I almost didn't know what I was doing. Dodging and parrying; striking and kicking; ducking and sidestepping. It was a deadly dance of grace and silence.

My opponent appeared suddenly at my side and spoke to me.

 _"Raiya? Are you-"_ I gasped and reacted without a thought, slamming my elbow toward him. He yelled and held his face, shooting me an annoyed glare.

And I was back on the roof. Instead of an angry Japanese man, there was a turtle mutant glaring a death wish upon me.

"The _hell_ was that for?" Raph demanded, holding his jaw. I put a hand over my mouth in an attempt to stop myself from laughing,

"Oh my god I'm sorry," I managed, "are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he mumbled, eyes narrowed. I let my laughter escape me in a sudden rush, unable to hold it back.

"...I really didn't mean to," I said, once my laughter had subsided, "I got dragged into a different memory where I was sparring and he appeared beside me so I elbowed his face but it was you, I'm sorry," I snickered again, "but I did it. I relived the memory and now I'm not afraid." My mood must have infected Raph because the glare was lifted from his face and he quirked a non-existent eyebrow at me, waiting. I smiled, knowing what he wanted.

"You were right. Thank you." I picked up the wooden figure resting at his side. "Now are you gonna tell me what this is?" Raphael grinned and plucked it from my hand.

"No, I'm gonna show you." He slipped his butterfly knife from his shoulder strap and flipped the blade out. He fiddled with the wooden statue, turning it over and around in his hands before settling on a position. Raph pulled one leg up and rested an arm on it to keep his carving hand steady, then started chipping small pieces off, swiftly creating a more defined shape to it.

I yawned and watched in interest, hugging my hoodie close to me.

"Is it like carving a pumpkin?" I asked. His knife stopped moving in surprise and he looked over at me, confused.

"Why the hell would anyone ever carve a pumpkin?" My eyes widened before I remembered that they probably never celebrated Halloween.

"Jeez, I keep forgetting you guys _literally_ live under a rock. Okay, so people always carve faces and stuff on pumpkins for Halloween, which is in October, and I gave up on it like five years ago because I _swear_ it's the hardest shit in the world. But you'd probably be good at it." He didn't reply, just kept carving.

 _Schick..._

Raphael's talent was evident. The steadiness of his hands must've developed through wielding his sai. It was amazing how effortlessly he turned the bland block of wood into a work of art.

 _Schick..._

Thin slices fluttered from the figure, curling like paper at the edges.

 _Schick..._

He was completely at ease, the most content I'd ever seen him.

 _Schick..._

 _Schick..._

I yawned again, my eyes feeling heavy.

"Raph?" I murmured. He spoke softly, taking note of my drowsiness with amusement.

"What?" He turned the wooden figure in his hand to shape a different part of it. I shifted against the wall, extremely aware of the soreness built up in my back and shoulders.

 _Schick..._

"I like it better when you're not a jerk." Through my hazy vision I saw his knife jerk to a stop. I smiled to myself, _that was the last thing he expected to hear._ The steady, calming sounds of the blade cutting away at the wood continued after a moment, creating an oddly relaxing lullaby.

 _Schick..._

 _Schick..._

 _Schick..._

 _Schick..._

I shifted again, curling up by his side and resting my head on his shoulder; exchanging the rock-hard walls for the warmth and comfort of the turtle instead. Courtesy of my exhaustion, I barely considered how he would react before I acted. Luckily, I only felt the muscles tense beneath his skin and the pause in his rhythm.

"Am I messing you up?" I asked, concerned for the safety of the potentially wonderful statue he was creating.

"No," he said in a soft, reassuring voice I would never have known he was capable of.

 _Schick..._

I moved closer to him gratefully, knowing now that he was fine with it. I stifled a yawn.

"Good, you're a good pillow."

 _Schick..._

 _Schick..._

I watched for as long as I managed to keep my eyes open, but the second they fluttered shut, I was out like a light.

••• 影の秘密 •••

It only took a few moments for me to remember last night after waking up in my bed.

 _Raph must've brought me inside after I literally fell asleep on him._ I groaned, falling back into my pillows and rubbing my face as I remembered acting like a drunken idiot purely from exhaustion.

 _You are_ so _stupid._ I rolled out of my bed, finding the hoodie I wore last night at the foot of my bed. I groaned, _again._

 _Oh that's great, Raph also decided to undress me._ I pulled it on over the purple camisole I wore and trudged over to my desk tiredly, flipping open my laptop. I found an unread email sitting in my inbox and I cursed.

 _The zoo. Olivia's going to murder me._ I scrambled to read it, smiling when I read their positive comments about my resume but when I realized the date they set for an interview was in an hour, I started panicking. I cursed again and flew around my room, trying to find decent clothes to wear.

"God _damnit_ why do I have no nice clothes!?" I cried, "what the _hell_ do you wear to an interview at the god damn _zoo_ anyways!? A bunny suit!?" A tap at my window made me jump and almost scream. He stood outside, watching me rush around in amusement. I growled and ran over to throw it open.

"Could you at least _try_ not to be a ninja for five seconds?" Raphael raised a brow at my attitude.

"Good morning to you too, Sunshine. Or more like good afternoon." I quickly returned to digging through my closet's contents.

"The hell is going on in here anyways?"

"I have an interview for a job at the zoo in like forty-five minutes and I don't know what the hell to wear," I said, "I don't suppose you can help?" I poked my head out of my closet to see him now standing inside my room, surveying the disaster I was currently creating. His silence answered my question and confirmed my thoughts. Despite that, I still held clothes up for him to see and tossed them aside after considering his opinion.

"It looks like a hurricane tore through here," he muttered. I ignored the comment and held up a white Devocean t-shirt.

"What's up with the tribal turtle?" He asked. I rolled my eyes.

"This company donates a bunch of it's profits to Sea Turtle conservation."

"Oh well put that on then. Good enough." I nodded and closed the closet door to change, pairing it with black leggings and a Devocean cap. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and rushed to cover any acne that appeared overnight.

"Bye! Thanks for the help!" I called dashing from my room, "I have _no_ idea when I'll be back!"

 **AN: How are you guys liking the ancestral memory things? Cool, huh? I didn't want to spend forever writing out five years of Raiya's relationship with the turtles before even getting to the part where she becomes a legit kunoichi, so I figured this memory thing could speed it up by a few years.**

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	22. 21 Closing the Distance

I slammed the apartment door behind me triumphantly,

" _Freaking_ nailed it!" I yelled to no one in particular. I slipped my shoes off before striding into the kitchen in search of food where I grabbed a bowl of pre-cut lettuce Olivia probably planned on using tonight for a salad. A crash from my bedroom made me stop, lettuce halfway to my mouth. A curse followed the commotion and I growled in annoyance, scooping up the bowl and heading to my room. I swung the door open to find Raphael, fuming, and kicking at something on the floor.

"What are you doing?" I demanded. The turtle snatched something off the hardwood floor and held it up,

"This god damn pencil made me fall on my ass. What the hell is it doing laying around?" I shrugged, chewing on a piece of lettuce.

"I'm an artist, I lose my art shit. Chill out." Raphael narrowed his eyes incredulously at me.

"What the hell are _you_ doing?" I waved a piece of lettuce in the air before popping it into my mouth.

"Eating."

"You're eating..." He stepped closer to look into the bowl and raised a brow at me, "undressed, plain salad?"

"Better known as lettuce genius." I walked past him into my room and set the bowl down on my desk.

"Oh, I freaking _nailed_ the interview, thanks for asking," I exclaimed, my voice brimming with sarcasm. I bent to scoop up a pile of clothing I'd created earlier and organized it all back into my closet. Raphael only grunted, which prompted me to continue.

"I start working tomorrow, I'm _super_ pumped to wear a sexy zoo person outfit. I'll have to text Uncle Tom and tell him I can't make it tomorrow," I slipped t-shirts and hoodies back onto hangars and returned them to their proper places, "really appreciate the interest."

"Anytime," he muttered. I watched him pick a black and white striped dress from the floor as I walked over to my computer.

"You have a dress?" He said in surprise. I rolled my eyes and opened iTunes.

"Yes, I happen to be a female, so I do in fact own a dress. And I can in fact pull it off, so shut up." I tapped play and retreated to my closet with the bowl of lettuce to snack on. A grin flickered across his face and he tossed it to me so I could hang it back up.

That soon became our routine.

He would throw articles of clothing at me and I would snatch them from the air and return them to their places, all the while singing and dancing. I played air guitar but had to stop to catch an incoming hoodie from Raph. But my signing didn't falter.

 _"We won't hesitate, to break down the garden gate._

 _There's not much time left today, yeah, ya."_

"You are the weirdest person I know," Raphael muttered, watching me oddly but I could care less.

 _"Life is a highway!_

 _I wanna ride it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _If you're goin my way!_

 _I wanna drive it!_

 _All, night, long,"_ I threw my hands up, "come on, you have to know this song.

 _Through all these cities and all these towns._

 _It's in my blood, and it's all around._

 _I love you now, like I loved you then._

 _This is the road, and these are the hands."_ He just threw me a shirt and shook his head. I laughed.

"I know you know this song. And I'll keep singing if you don't."

To prove my point, I sang louder and waited expectantly for him to do the same.

 _"There's no load I can't hold._

 _Road so rough, this I know._

 _I'll be there when the light comes in._

 _Just tell 'em we're survivors!"_ Raphael allowed a grin to take over his face and he watched me sing and air guitar my heart out.

 _"Life is a highway!_

 _I wanna ride it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _If you're goin my way!_

 _I wanna drive it!_

 _All, night, long."_ An avalanche of clothing fell over me, courtesy of Raphael. I punched his arm after digging myself out of the mountain.

"Hey! This is my jam you jerk!"

I quickly recovered and continued,

 _"I wanna drive it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _There was a distance, between you and I,"_ in accordance to the music and lyrics, I gestured to him and myself, pointedly using my middle finger and prompting a light laugh and eye roll from him.

 _"A misunderstanding, once._

 _But now, we look it in the eye._

 _Ooooo...Yeah!"_ I resumed my air guitaring more violently now, ignoring the projectile clothing hitting me,

 _"There ain't no load that I can't hold._

 _Road so rough, this I know._

 _I'll be there when the light comes in._

 _Just tell 'em we're survivors!"_ I watched Raph, waiting for him to cave. He gave in and grinned hugely, opening his mouth to sing along with me.

 _"Life is a highway!_

 _I wanna ride it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _If you're goin my way!_

 _I wanna drive it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _Life is a highway!_

 _I wanna ride it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _If you're goin my way!_

 _I wanna-"_ a ringing brought our singing abruptly to a stop. I groaned and dashed over to my desk, turning off the music and checking my phone for Caller ID.

"Shit, it's Olivia," I whirled around and pointed a finger at him, "don't say a word. Full ninja mode." He scoffed.

"Full ninja _what!?_ " I ignored him and picked up my phone.

"Hey Liv."

 _"Hey...you sound out of breath,"_ she noted suspiciously. I rolled my eyes.

"It's called having fun, it usually only occurs when you're not home and I'm allowed to play loud music and sing my ass off." She sighed.

 _"Our poor neighbours."_

"Our _blessed_ neighbours," I corrected, earning a snort from Raph. I punched his shoulder.

 _"So that's what you're doing with your time?"_ She asked drily.

"No! I'm cleaning my room. And I just got back from an interview at the zoo."

 _"No way!"_ She squealed, _"what did they say!? How did it go!?"_

"Oh, they loved me of course, I start working tomorrow so I should probably start learning about tropical animals, huh?"

 _"Yeah, that might help you keep your job."_

"I'll do that after I finish cleaning. What's the game plan for tonight?"

 _"I'm going out for dinner with someone,"_ she said happily. I recoiled in surprise.

"Really? Who?"

 _"His name's Andy. He came in today to have his leg cast removed and we got talking and Raiy he's so sweet."_

"Well that's adorable in a weird way. How'd he bust his leg?"

 _"His dog ran into him and made him fall down a flight of stairs."_ I burst out laughing.

"Oh my god I love him already. What kind of dog does he have? What's it's name?"

 _"Oh I don't know, some terrier, why?"_

"He must be pretty frickin scrawny for a terrier to push him. What's he do?"

 _"He's a physiotherapist."_

"Oh, well have fun with this guy. I'll order in or something."

 _"Okay I will. I'll probably be back around eleven, so don't wait up for me."_

"Cool, I'll be sleeping so don't even think about waking me up. I'll talk to you later, bye."

 _"Okay, bye."_ I ended the call in relief.

"She's going out for dinner with a guy who's leg cast she removed today. Hopefully it turns out better than her last date." I snorted, playing my music and returning to my closet with more clothes.

"What happened at her last date?"

"Well she went out with a Wendy's worker, to Wendy's, and talked about Wendy's the whole time so you can imagine how much fun she had."

"Have you ever been on one?"

"On what? A date?" I snorted, "no. I don't even have friends. I _swear_ there isn't a single person in this city that's even remotely like me."

"Like you?" He questioned, prompting me to elaborate.

"Yeah, someone that likes to sit around in pyjamas, eat shit food and have movie marathons and Xbox tournaments but would also go skydiving or run around the aquarium in the dead of night or drive to California for no reason, or try making a bunch of Chinese food, I don't know, somebody that's game for lazy days and random, crazy shit like sitting at the top of the Empire State Building and stargazing. Not somebody that would like dive right into a bar fight or go to random parties or go to a concert, that stuff's too social," I shrugged, "I don't know, maybe that's my issue, maybe I'm too antisocial." Raphael watched me curiously, taking in all this new information with interest. I mentally cursed to myself, _good job, I'm sure he really wanted to know about your dream guy._

"Drive to California for no reason?" He repeated, amused.

"Hey, stop silently judging me. I learned to surf there, it was my favourite place to go," I sighed wistfully, "we used to go there every summer...before Olivia and I moved here."

"Why are you here alone?" I shook my head, turning away to put clothes in my closet.

"It's all really stupid. Our family is a bit of a wreck." I hummed to the current song, folding and hanging the remaining clothing. Raphael stood in the doorway of my closet, leaning against the doorframe.

"What happened?" I blinked in astonishment.

I couldn't explain why, but something about him made me feel like I could tell him anything and act like myself whenever he was around, instead of hiding behind a fake mask like I did with most people, which probably explained why I was so open last night.

"Alright. I'll give you a Carter family history lesson. Basically, my father's entire family committed crimes and were drunk eighty percent of the time you saw them. My mother and her family were fairly normal and happy, they were small and close, living in Arizona for generations. Their ancestors came from Japan, which is how I'm connected to a Samurai. Do _not_ ask me how my parents met because I have no idea. They got married right away and had me and my sister. And let me tell you, my mother's family _despised_ my father's and vice versa. They hated my mom's choice to marry him. But the thing is, he wasn't even a bad guy until my mother was diagnosed with Leukemia. And I guess that just broke something in him. He started getting into drugs, committing crimes, having affairs with other women. He finally went to jail for committing third-degree murder. And," I shut my eyes tightly, straining to keep my eyes dry and voice steady, "...and a year later, my mom died. Thank god Olivia was eighteen at the time, so she could legally take care of me. We only stayed in Arizona for two months before we couldn't handle it anymore. Everything just reminded me of her. Our Uncle Thomas helped us move here. He promised to teach me to pilot a helicopter so I could get into a good post-secondary and get a good job. He's my mom's younger brother, so he's looked after us," I kept my face turned away from him and my eyes shut tight against the tears, "I haven't heard from the rest of my family since my mother's funeral, four years ago." I hugged myself, trying to ward off the memory of her cold, pale hand in mine and her grey-blue eyes as they lost their light and her lips as they slackened, never to smile and say 'I love you' ever again.

"I'm sorry." I sniffed and turned toward him, smiling weakly.

"We're fine, really. The rest of our family can go to hell for all I care. I just miss her, that's all." I miss her smile, her jokes, her hot chocolates, her warm hands.I miss sitting outside, watching every meteor shower with her, hearing her call me Emmy, looking in her eyes and seeing the stars inside them, her laugh, her braiding my hair. I miss her teaching me the names of constellations. I miss her stories of princes flying to the moon and bringing home stars for their princesses, her inability to cook bacon, her homemade applesauce waffles, her voice when she woke up, her wild, red hair in the wind, her singing when I couldn't sleep. I miss her waking me up early and watching the sunset on the roof. I miss that light in her eyes when she said goodnight. I miss her voice, telling me I could be anything, I could do anything, telling me that I would find a prince that would bring me a galaxy, telling me I was special, telling me that everything was going to be okay; that she loved me.

I felt the tears then, and they wouldn't stop.

"God, I-I'm sorry," I hiccuped, wiping at my eyes, "I t-tried not to...but it j-just h-happened." His strong arms encircled me gently and brought me close to him. I responded by throwing my own arms around him and sobbing heavily against his plastron.

"I miss her," I whimpered. Raph just tightened the embrace, allowing me to hear the calming beat of his heart. Words weren't spoken, and they weren't needed. It was enough knowing that he cared.

 **AN: YAYYY ya'll got to see their soft sides! Aw lol they're so cute already, I'm in love with this 'lil relationship they have.**

 **Anyways, kind of a longer chapter!**

 **What did you guys think?**

 **Do you like them shorter? Longer?**

 **Let me know! :)**

 **Also, is the chapter title a bit too fruity? XD I kinda based it off the line in the song** ** _'there was a distance, between you and I'_** **is it a bit much? Lol lemme know :)**


	23. 22 Under the Stars

"Raiya."

 _"Agghhh!"_ My eyes shot open as I fell backwards off my chair, and into strong, green arms. I looked up at Raphael in surprise, then scowled and punched his shoulder.

"That was rude."

"You're welcome," he grumbled, pulling me to my feet. I sighed and rubbed my face tiredly.

"Why'd you wake me up?" He nodded toward the window, where the sky could be seen, painted with the bright colours of the sun dipped low on the horizon.

"The sun's setting." He was anxious to get back to the lair. I nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

••• 影の秘密 •••

Splinter stood before me, his hands clasped behind his back.

"You have done very good tonight Raiya. How did you overcome your fear?" I glanced to the turtles' bedroom where Raph laid in his bed, carving and listening to music.

"I got help from someone." I grinned. The rat Sensei turned his head to see what I was looking at.

"Ah, Raphael?" I nodded and he smiled, "it is good to hear that you two are getting along, it eases my mind knowing that he is occupied with watching you rather than antagonizing his brothers and training excessively," he sighed heavily, "I apologize that he watches you, but the only way in which he will truly believe you can be trusted is if he sees it for himself. I know Raphael can be angry and lash out, but do not let that cloud your mind with doubts of him, he may surprise you." Slightly taken aback by the sudden turn our conversation took, I found nothing to say. Splinter only smiled again and stepped off the dais.

"Rest well, we will start your _real_ training tomorrow." I rubbed my temple with a sigh, an ache building deep inside my head from accessing my ancestral memories.

"Headache?" I turned to see Leo standing a few feet behind me. I nodded.

"Sort of, I don't think I've ever used my brain so much." He laughed.

"We don't have any Advil, but I can get you some water?"

"I'm good, thanks. I think I'll head home and catch up on sleep." I glanced to their bedroom where Raph still laid. "Do you think he misses the lair when he's aboveground?" Leo shrugged.

"He's never told me, but I think he likes being aboveground, just not during the day when people can see him. Why?"

"Just wondering. I felt kinda bad that he basically hid in my room all day today, but then I remembered that he asked for it." I nodded to their room. "Would it be dangerous to go over there right now?"

"Nah, just call for back up if you need it." Leo walked over to the weapon's wall and grabbed two katanas. He spun them in his hands and held the blades up to his eye, checking for imperfections. I hopped off the dais so he could solo train and headed toward the bedroom. I tapped my hand against my thigh to the music's beat once I came into earshot, it was some old rap song I recognized from a movie. I would've started singing to it if I had known the lyrics and it wasn't so fast. I noticed Raphael's carving hand falter and the muscles in his arms tense momentarily as I approached.

"How's the carving going?" I asked, coming up beside him. He shrugged.

"Fine." I could make out what it was now: a guy doing a back kick, with his arms bent at his chest and his body in the motion of turning on one foot.

"Lookin good." Intrigued, I watched. When I yawned for probably the billionth time that day, Raph flipped his blade away, then slipped the wooden figure into his belt and against the inside of his shell. I narrowed my eyes in confusion.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Taking you home," he replied matter-of-factly. I stopped myself from protesting, _it'll only cause a fight, and you_ know _how fun those are._ Instead, I followed him from the lair, saying goodbye to Leo as we passed him on our way out.

"So when Sensei says _real_ training, does that mean he's going to teach me how to decapitate someone?" I asked as Raphael navigated the underground tunnels. He snorted.

"More like learning how to breath properly when you strike." I frowned.

"Well that sounds _insanely_ boring." He nodded.

"It is, but you need it." I tossed hair out my face.

"So, how long until I become a kunoichi?"

"I'm not sure if your little memory things will make it go by faster, but usually at least five years." My mouth dropped open.

"What?" I sputtered, "who the hell has that kind of patience?"

"I've been at it for ten years now and I'm still not finished my training."

"What could you possibly still have to learn?"

"Inner stuff," he muttered, "and actual field experience." I spoke without a thought.

"Well you're a lot nicer and less scary than I thought you were at first," I cursed when I realized what I said and scrambled to fix it before he murdered me, " _no!_ I mean you're temper isn't as bad as I thought! Shit that's wrong too. I-"

"Raiya!" He called over my voice, making me stop, "jeez, you're almost as annoying as Mikey." I breathed a sigh of relief when he didn't whip out his sai to fillet me.

"Okay, I want to apologize for acting all weird the other night. I mean, I meant everything I said, I just don't know what the hell made me say it but I promise I wasn't drunk or anything." Raph snorted.

"You were just tired as hell."

"Yeah," I nodded in agreement, "sorry for that. And falling asleep on you. _And_ for what I said just now, _and-_ "

"Has anyone ever told you that you apologize too much?" He snapped, cutting me off. I crossed my arms, matching his scowl.

"Nope. That would be the first."

••• 影の秘密 •••

I turned back to my open window and looked out onto the roof where Raphael still stood.

"You _can_ come inside, you know. It gets _insanely_ cold overnight."

"I'm fine," he responded gruffly, walking off to sit in his usual spot; a few feet to the right of my window. I let out a long breath.

"Well if you change your mind my window is unlocked." And with that I slid it shut, slipped into pyjamas, and crawled into bed.

Unable to sleep, I stared at the roof, at the glowing star constellations I painted on it when we first moved in, at mom's favourite constellation, Ursa Minor, at her favourite stars, Merak and Dubhe. I closed my eyes, hoping to fall asleep dreaming of her.

Her smiling lips and cheerful grey eyes filled the darkness behind my eyelids. I couldn't tell how long I relived sitting on the roof of our old house, counting shootings stars and sipping hot chocolate while wrapped in a blanket, sitting between her and Olivia.

A creaking shook me from my shallow sleep. I groaned and turned on my side, finding Raphael crawling through my window.

"Jerk," I muttered, "I was having a good dream." He shut the window behind him.

"Sorry to wake you sleeping beauty but I'm freezing my shell off out there." I smirked.

"Told you." He rubbed his arms and walked over to sit against the wall beside my bed. I frowned upon noticing his shivering and reached a hand out. His green skin was like ice, making me gasp and jerk my hand away immediately.

"Jesus you're an ice cube." I threw my bed covers off and dashed to my closet, flipping the lights on and searching on all the high shelves for my desired item, grinning triumphantly and tugging it off the shelf when I felt the soft material beneath my fingers. The blanket unfurled from it's previously folded state, putting Jasmine's face on full display. With the light still on, Raphael could see the side depicting Jasmine's pet tiger, Rajah.

"Is that a bigass cartoon tiger?" He asked, unimpressed. I nodded and switched off the lights,

"Jasmine was my favorite princess." I tossed him the blanket and flopped back onto my bed.

"Jasmine's a tiger princess?"

"No! That's her pet, Rajah. Jasmine's on the other side." He turned it in his hands to see the pretty Arabian girl with long, black hair. I rolled my eyes.

"Oh stop hesitating. There's nobody here to judge you for cuddling with a princess blanket." I thought I saw him grin through the darkness before flinging it over his shoulders and tugging it around himself. I reached behind me and tossed him two of my pillows.

"If you wake me up again, there's a chance that I'll murder you," I warned, flipping onto my stomach, "if Olivia walks in, you're hiding your own ass. If I snore, suck it up. And do _not_ go through my shit."

"Anything else?" I thought for a moment.

"Yes. I would like you to pay rent in the form of an apology." He sighed.

"Right. I'm sorry for being an ass the other day and calling you Annie and Carrot Top, and accusing you of betraying my family." I frowned.

"You did that?"

"Yeah, indirectly. When I asked you what you were doing with Olivia."

 _More like demanded._ I yawned.

"You know, I really enjoy our little midnight talks, Raphael."

"Me too, _Emmalyn._ " I wrinkled my nose.

"Oh _god,_ how'd you figure that one out?"

"I'm not as stupid as I look, you know." I rolled my eyes.

"Did Leo tell you?"

"No."

"Then how'd you figure it out?" I asked, truly curious.

"My ingenious mind." A smile spread across my face at that. We remained silent for a while, and I kinda liked it. It was oddly peaceful knowing that Raph was here with me, but I just couldn't understand why I felt this way. It was weird.

"What's up with the glowing stars?" Raphael asked, breaking the silence. I smiled with nostalgia.

"My mom had a thing for stars, she taught me all the constellations and the myths behind them. The names of the stars, and how to navigate by them. We watched every meteor shower together, every eclipse, every blood moon, harvest moon, super moon, everything. And when we moved here, I hated how I could never see the stars, so I painted them on my roof using glow in the dark paint," I pointed to a cluster of glowing white stars, "there's Ursa Major."

"Isn't that the Big Dipper?" I sighed in frustration, _I can't stand it when people call it that._

"If you want to sound less educated, yes."

"Who the hell calls it _Ursa Major?_ "

"I do!" I argued.

"Yeah, you probably call the Little Dipper Ursa _Less_ Major too."

"Ursa _Minor_ ," I corrected, "wanna hear the story behind them?"

"No."

"Alright, so Zeus, being his cheating, asshole self, decided to disguise himself as Artemis so he could get close to the pretty nymph Callisto. So they had a kid called Arcas. And to save Callisto from the rage of his wife, Hera, he turned her into a bear and sent Arcas off to be raised by someone else. And like fifteen years later Arcas goes out hunting and runs into Callisto. She recognizes her son but he just freaks out and tries to kill her. So Zeus sees this and he freaks out too and sends a hurricane to bring them to heaven and turn them into constellations before they kill each other." Raph snorted.

"Well if Arcas was a human then why is he a bear in the constellation?" I frowned.

"I don't know," I admitted, "that's the story my mother always told me. Maybe I forgot a part." I pointed out a few more constellations, excited to finally be able to share it with someone else.

"Donnie would love this." I grinned.

"Really? He likes stars?"

"Well he's never seen them before but he loves learning. And he'd love that you know all this stuff." I yawned and nodded thoughtfully.

"I'll be sure to show it to him." We lapsed into silence again, not uncomfortable, but tranquil.

"Which one's your favorite?"

"Gemini," I murmured tiredly, "two half brothers, Pollux and Castor, were born. Pollux was immortal and Castor was mortal. They did everything together, helped Jason get the Golden Fleece. When Castor died, Pollux asked to share his immortality with him so they could still be together. So they spent part of their time in Hades, and the other part on Olympus together," I yawned and pointed to the two, bright stars sitting beside each other in the constellation, "and Zeus kept them together by putting them in the sky beside one another. Pollux is my favourite," I sighed wistfully, "I miss watching meteor showers. I miss the stars in general, actually." Raphael remained silent.

"Sorry I'm being all weird again." I laughed and he chuckled.

"Normal's boring." I smiled to myself with heavy eyelids,

"Goodnight Raph."

"Goodnight." I blinked tiredly at the stars.

 _Goodnight mom._

 **AN: Comment!**

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	24. 23 Good Morning, Grannie

I woke to a knock on my door.

"Raiya?" Olivia's voice made any drowsiness within my body completely vaporize. My eyes shot open and I bolted upright in my bed.

"Yeah?" I said tentatively.

"Scrambled or fried eggs?" I released a huge breath, falling back onto my bed in relief.

"Scrambled."

"Okay, get up sleepy head. Breakfast is almost ready and I have to tell you _all_ about my date!" I groaned. _Yay._ I smoothed my hair and shuffled to the edge of my bed, almost stepping on a huge shell bearing a red Japanese symbol in the process. I held back a scream.

"Raph!?" I hissed.

"Could you have snored _any_ louder last night?" He growled, turning his head to look up at me and raising a brow at my momentary confusion and surprise. "The hell are you freaking out about?" He demanded. I stepped around him in annoyance.

"Oh give me a break, my Alzheimer's kicked in and I forgot you were here."

"No worries, Grannie." I ignored the teasing and grabbed a sweater from my closet.

"You have to be quiet, Olivia can't know you're here," I whispered, pulling it on over my head. He flipped onto his back and sat up, rolling his eyes at the same time.

"I'm a ninja. She'll never know I'm here." He balled up my Jasmine blanket and tossed it. I snatched it from the air and quickly folded it, returning it to it's place before heading to my bathroom.

After detangling my hair and brushing my teeth, I returned to my bedroom and found Raphael sitting at my desk, flipping through a book. My _sketch book._ I cursed under my breath and snatched it from him, throwing it onto my untidy bed instead.

"Don't touch my shit," I hissed the reminder. He held his hands up in surrender.

"Alright, chill out."

"I'm serious, don't go through anything. Olivia will leave soon," I sighed and rubbed my face, "I just have to listen to her talk about her date first." Raph crossed his arms.

"What the hell am I supposed to do while you talk for five hours? Sit here?" I ignored him and left my room, closing the door quietly behind me.

"How was it?" I asked, walking into the kitchen. Olivia stood at the stove, cooking the eggs in a pan. She glanced back at me with a huge smile.

"Raiy I am in _love_ with this guy!" She said. "I _swear_ I'm going to marry him." I raised an eyebrow.

"So it went well?"

"It went amazing! Andy's so sweet, and funny, and smart, and sweet, and-oh wait, I already said that," she was practically bouncing on her feet.

"Where'd he take you?"

"To Blossom." I wrinkled my nose at the mention of the vegan restaurant, but she sighed dreamily as if it were a fantasy.

"It was so much fun. We talked about family at first. He grew up here with his parents, an older brother who moved to Canada and an older sister who moved to Chicago a few years ago. So now he lives in an apartment with his border terrier, Kota," she looked at me pointedly. "And his parents live a few blocks away. Then we got talking about our jobs and how he's been studying in physiology for years now and-"

"How old is this guy?" I asked warily.

"Oh he's only twenty-five. Anyways, he's so smart, he must know _everything_ there is to know about the human body..."

I sat through her long and tiresome description of their date, all the while trying to maintain my best interested expression and not fall back asleep.

"We need to find you a man," she decided, setting a plate of eggs down in front of me. I snorted and picked up a fork.

"No thanks."

"Why not?" She frowned. "Then we could go on double dates!"

"Well the first step here is finding someone that would actually talk to me."

"You're telling me there isn't a single guy in your school that talks to you?"

"Nope," _not ever since I went to school blabbing to my few friends about my shadow saviour._ "Not unless they need help with their physics homework." She waved her hand.

"That's alright. Maybe you'll meet someone at the zoo." I groaned.

"I have to be there today from one to four-thirty instead of going to flight training."

"Oh you poor thing, I work all day. Which reminds me, I should be leaving soon." She began to wash the dishes sitting in the sink when I stopped her,

"Liv don't worry, I can clean up."

"Okay, thank you!" She said, heading into her room to finish getting ready. I finished my eggs off and set my plate beside the sink, then grabbed a container of vanilla yogurt from the fridge. I sprinkled granola and raspberries inside, looking up when I heard Olivia at the door pulling on her shoes.

"I'll talk to you later!" She called, closing the door behind her.

After waiting a few minutes to make sure she wasn't going to come back for something, I called Raphael's name.

"Hey Raph! She's gone." The door to my bedroom whined on it's hinges as it swung open. Raph walked into the kitchen looking bored.

"Her friend sounds like one hell of a nerd," he commented, leaning on the counter. I nodded in agreement, tossing the empty yogurt container into a recycling bin.

"But he has a dog, so he can't be that bad," I looked over at him. "Hungry?" He shook his head but I thawed frozen pizza in the microwave nonetheless and washed dishes as he grudgingly ate.

"I have to leave for the zoo at twelve-thirty so we have four hours to kill." He lifted a brow.

"We?"

"Well you can try to sneak back into the sewers, but that would leave me unwatched all day," I shrugged. "You _did_ say that it was necessary to stalk me." He scoffed.

"No, I said that somebody should _watch_ you."

"Same thing. All right," I pressed my palms against the counter. "I'm gonna whip up some popcorn, and then we're gonna watch The Conjuring."

 _Okay, he has to jump at this,_ I thought, watching Raphael out of the corner of my eye as the character on screen cowered at the top of a dark staircase while holding a burning match. A pair of pale, dirtied hands appeared from the darkness beside her and quickly clapped twice, causing a scream to erupt from the woman and my heart to seize a little despite having seen it before.

But the turtle remained stone-faced.

 _Jeez, nothing scares him._ After continuous emotionless reactions to the following scary scenes, I couldn't take it,

"Does _anything_ scare you?" I asked, turning to him. He laid spread out on the couch, a bowl of half-empty popcorn sitting on the floor beside him. He looked over at me, slightly amused.

"Not really." I frowned and turned back to the tv determinedly,

 _I'm gonna find a scarier movie._

"Alright, quiz me." I thrust a paper out toward Raphael. He looked over at me from where he laid on my bed and narrowed his eyes.

"Why do I have to?" I rolled my eyes in annoyance.

"Because you're not doing anything." I shook the paper with emphasis. "Come on, I need to know this stuff. Stop being boring." That last bit made him snatch it from my hand. He read over the expanse of the paper, making sense of it before sighing and asking his first question.

"Where are black-and-white-ruffed lemurs from?"

"Madagascar!"

"In the eastern rainforest," he added, voice tinged with boredom. I nodded and made a mental note.

"Right, alright next one." He sighed and rubbed his face, as if trying to stay awake.

"Describe the lemurs' behaviour." I grimaced.

"Oh, shit. Uhm...they spend most of their time high in the trees and are active during the day. Females are dominant because they have to carry around offspring so they eat first, and usually both or multiple parents raise infants together."

"What do they eat?" I scrunched up my face in an attempt to remember.

"Mostly fruit, but sometimes nectar, flowers, leaves and seeds."

"When do emerald tree boas turn green?" I recoiled in surprise.

"They're not always green?" I asked in confusion. Raph snorted.

"Your studying's been _really_ beneficial. They turn green after nine to twelve months."

"Hey! I missed that part." I snatched the pen I was writing with earlier off my desk and hurled it at him. Raph plucked it from the air with a crooked grin.

"Nice try."

"Oh shut up. Just ask the next question." He twirled the pen between his fingers and read the paper.

"Where are Victoria crowned pigeons from?"

"Oh! I know this, I know it!..." I snapped my fingers. "Northern New Guinea!" Raphael nodded.

"How did poison dart frogs get their name?"

 _Anyone who'd seen Pirates of the Caribbean could guess this one right._

"Natives used them to poison darts for their blowguns. Cool, huh?"

"Super," he rolled his eyes and continued. "How do they maintain their toxicity?"

"They eat a diet containing alkaloids."

"What animal is immune to their poison?"

"Fire bellied snakes. Home to the Amazon rainforest."

"Which frog is the most poisonous?"

"The golden poison frog. _Damn,_ I'm on a roll!" Raphael grinned.

"What medicine can be developed from their poison?"

"A painkiller two-hundred times stronger than morphine. And possibly muscle relaxants, heart stimulants, and appetite suppressants. _Hell yeah!_ Give me another one!"

"What kind of poison do they have?" I opened my mouth to answer before realizing I didn't know. I frowned, _I never researched that. It's not even on that paper._

"How the hell am I supposed to know?" I demanded. The turtle smirked at me and shrugged.

"You should know this."

"That's no fair!" I argued. "They're not even on my paper! And even if they were, poisons have the dumbest names! Like what the hell is sodium chloride!? I-what?" I stopped my rant when I saw his expression,

"Sodium chloride is _salt_." He said, watching me incredulously. I contained a laugh behind my grin.

"Okay. _Definitely_ not one of my best moments. But I'm serious! Try pronouncing one of those poisons! It's impossible!" He raised a brow.

"Want me to call Donnie?"

"No," I crossed my arms in a pout. "You win, you broke my streak." Raph grinned victoriously and placed my study paper back on my desk before falling back into the mess of bedcovers beneath him. I glanced at the time displayed on my laptop's screen and sighed inwardly. With a little over half an hour left to get ready, I went into my closet to change into something more presentable. Then to my bathroom to fix my face and hair into a braid.

"What am I s'posed to do while you're gone?" Raph called.

"Whatever the hell you want. Just don't trash the apartment or be seen. I'll probably call the house phone if I get bored, so pick up if it says Raiya's cell," I frowned, fingers pausing in my hair. "You don't have a phone, do you?"

"How the hell could I have a phone?" He demanded, annoyed with my dumb question.

"Leo texted me from different numbers everyday with a new address and time before he took me to the lair."

"Well _that_ explains why he was always on the computer. Didn't know he knew how to use one though." I rolled my eyes and tied the end of the braid. I turned to leave but a glass bottle sitting on the counter caught my gaze. I picked the perfume up thoughtfully, plucking the cap off and smelling it. Intoxicated, I applied a generous amount, then switched the lights off as I left my bathroom.

Raphael–still laying on my bed–glanced up at me from something in his hands,

"Where's your 'sexy zoo person' outfit?" He teased and I grinned.

"At the zoo. Did I get your hopes up?" I narrowed my eyes at what he held, my smile falling. I briskly walked over to him and snatched the sketchbook from his grasp. "Really? How old are you? Four?" I strode past him to place the book back in it's proper drawer at my desk, then turned back to the turtle, who wore an entranced expression.

"Hello?" I waved a hand in front of his face. His face snapped into a tense scowl and he clamped a hand around my wrist.

"The hell are you doing?" He demanded.

"Hailing you from la la land, chill out." I yanked my hand from his grip. I unplugged my phone from the charging port and slipped it into the pocket on my thigh.

"There's food in the fridge. You know where the movies and video games are," I took a scrap piece of paper from a desk drawer and scrawled down my number. "Call me if you fuck something up. Clean up your shit if you make a mess. And do _not_ go through my stuff." He exhaled irritably.

"Anything else, mom?"

 _With that attitude you'll be vacuuming the whole apartment._

"Don't let anyone see you," I said instead. He rolled his eyes and hopped off my bed.

"There go my plans to go to the skatepark," he muttered, sarcasm evident. I ignored him, walking out of my room and to the entrance where I slipped my shoes on.

"I'll see ya later," I said. He crossed his arms, leaning against my bedroom doorframe with an amused, crooked grin on his face.

"Don't get fired." I laughed and opened the door.

"Don't eat all my frozen pizza."

 **AN: Awww they're just so damn cute**

 **What's everyone favourite scary movie? Out of the few I've watched I like I am Legend and Zombieland the best, even though neither of them are even very scary lol.**

 **Comment/favourite/follow pleaseee!**


	25. 24 Falling Out

"Aww, are you bored without me?" I teased, sitting at an outdoor table at the Dancing Crane Café.

 _"No, I just called to tell you I broke that crystal angel sculpture."_ He said as if he hadn't a care in the world. I froze, almost letting my drink slip through my fingers as dread leaked through my body.

"You _what?_ " I demanded, voice low and hands clenched.

 _"I'm messing with you, it's intact."_ I slumped back in my seat with relief.

"I was two seconds away from murdering you through this phone," I breathed.

 _"That would've been interesting."_ I could hear the smile in Raphael's voice.

"What have you been doing while I've been dying here?" I asked, sipping my iced tea.

 _"I just finished watching Star Wars and I've never been more confused in my life."_ I grinned.

"Which one?"

 _"Oh. Aw shit, I watched the third one! Damn, well_ that _explains a lot."_

"Have you never seen Star Wars before?" I asked in disbelief.

 _"No."_

"What kind of childhood did you have!? Those movies were my favorite when I was a kid. We're bringing them to the lair so everyone can watch them," I heard his sigh and smiled, "if you're bored, you can-"

 _"Nope. Not bored."_

"Well I sure as hell am," I glanced around, making sure nobody would hear me, "this place is like a jail cell, and I still have another two hours to stand around enduring stupid questions. If I hear one more kid ask if these lemurs are in the movie Madagascar, I'm going to snap." He snorted.

 _"Well they are from Madagascar."_

"Yeah, but they're real, not animated. And _everything_ at this café costs a fortune!" I hissed under my breath.

 _"Anything else you gonna vent about?"_ A small family of four sat down at a table not far from me. I sighed and sipped my drink.

"Nah, I'll save it all for when I get home."

 _"How kind of you."_ I laughed.

"You enjoy my rants, admit it."

 _"There is nothing I enjoy less."_ I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, whatever...Wanna hear the dumbest question I've been asked so far?"

 _"Nope."_

"Yeah you do. So this lady came up to me while I was at the poison dart frogs and asked me when they shed their skin and turn into tadpoles." I drummed my fingernails on the tabletop, irritated just thinking of it.

 _"Don't they start as tadpoles_ then _turn into frogs?"_

"Yep." I pulled my phone away from my ear to check the time and groaned.

"I have to go, my shift starts again in five minutes. I'll see you after another two hours in hell."

 _"Don't kill anyone with that temper."_ I tapped the call off then jammed my phone back into my pocket, downed the remainder of my drink, pasted a fake smile onto my face and grudgingly made my way back to the Tropic Zone building with feigned enthusiasm.

••• 影の秘密 •••

The apartment was eerily quiet and empty when I walked in, with my great grandmother's angel crystal undisturbed on it's place on the bookshelf. It looked exactly as it did when I left, as if no life had been present while I was gone. But I knew the turtle was here. I could smell his familiar, calming, musky scent hanging in the air. I smiled as I took of my shoes.

 _Gotta love having ninja friends._

"Did you miss me?" I called.

"You wish." Raphael seemed to appear from thin air in the living room. He lifted his non-existent eyebrows questioningly at me, "why are you still wearing that?"

"What...?" I looked down at myself, realizing I was still wearing the god awful outfit granted to me by the zoo. I laughed sheepishly and ran my hands through my hair, "damn. I ran out of that place so fast I forgot to change."

"There's no way it was _that_ bad." He protested as he followed me into my room. I snorted and closed my closet door behind me to change, "that's what I thought at first too. But turns out, it's boring as hell, people are dumber than you think and it gets _really_ hot in that building." I switched out the dark green t-shirt and khakis for the leggings and beige tank top I wore this morning.

"Well it _is_ called the Tropic Zone." He pointed out. I rolled my eyes and reopened the door. The mutant had his head craned back, looking up at the stars on the roof of my bedroom. I stifled a laugh.

"What are you doing?" He tore his gaze from the roof to look down at me with a smirk.

"Admiring your shitty paint job."

"Hey!" I punched his arm, "I was twelve, give me a break." I couldn't help the grin that overtook my face. He broke his gaze away to look out the window. The sun was sending it's last rays of farewell as it sank lower and lower in the sky. I bit my lip, trying to decide if it would be a bad idea to ask him something.

 _He won't kill you, he's not as violent as you think._

"Do you miss the lair?" I blurted. Raphael's brows knitted together in surprise and he looked down at me.

His quizzical expression seemed to say, _why do you care?_

I shrugged, awaiting an answer. He released his breath before speaking.

"Sometimes it's weird not being there, but I like being out of the sewers," his half smile faltered and he looked away, clearing his throat as if just realizing what he was saying, "just wish I didn't have to watch _your_ ass all the time." I recoiled in annoyance.

"You _wanted_ to stalk me and make sure I didn't tell anyone about you guys, alright? You did this to yourself, and you're welcome to quit anytime. You'd be doing me a favour." He looked about to say something, but instead set his face in the scowl I was hoping he'd discarded. I clenched my hands into fists to keep myself from exploding.

"Olivia's working a late shift, she won't be back until later. Let's head out." Without another word or glance his way, I stormed out of my room, grabbed the Star Wars trilogy from the living area, then left the apartment. Raphael followed me from above.

I was pissed.

I'd told him about my family; something only Liv and I ever spoke about a handful of times. I'd talked with him about things I didn't mean to mention, and found that sharing things with him was nice.

It was odd; radiating from this mutant turtle was an overwhelming feeling of protection, and openness, and mischievousness and understanding. I felt I could be myself around him, so I'd opened up. I'd never done that with someone aside from Olivia. It was comforting, knowing that there was someone else in my life I could confide in. And I was both surprised and grateful that it was the red masked turtle. Somehow, he seemed to understand me better than others. And somehow, I'd managed to bring out this goofy, happy, enjoyable side of him that Leo so confidently believed his brother possessed. And then, as if he were ashamed of how he was acting around me-of joking and smiling-he decided to accuse me of him having to follow me around and hide inside my apartment all day. All of it made me want to scream.

 _Raphael must be more confusing than the goddamn Bermuda Triangle._

We reached a secluded entrance to the sewers.

As we made our way to the lair, trudging through tunnels containing shallow sewage I usually tried to sidestep, I decided to address the building tension,

"Explain something to me," I snapped, "how is it that you were so chill around me and actually seemed to be having fun, and then you're like _bam!_ Cold as the fuckin North Pole." He didn't answer, and I didn't dare turn to look up at his face or else I probably would've knocked it off and into tomorrow. I continued.

"I get that you're temper is shorter than Mikey's attention span, but at least _try_ not to let it out on me again...I'm fine if you want to follow me around until you know you can trust me, but if you're gonna be an ass about it all the time then so will I. So chill the _hell_ out, stop wearing that fake scowl, and for _Christ's_ sake let down your goddamn wall for once and let yourself have fun! Because I know that you hide yourself behind anger and pretend that you don't care, but you do. And do _not_ try to bullshit me because I've seen it and-" _and I actually like you when you drop your tough guy act,_ "...and I will bust your face into the next fuckin century if you're a douche to me again, ya got it?" He chuckled, his anger seeming to have evaporated following my last statement.

"You know, we're really not that different." I scowled.

"Hate to disagree, but my threats are way better and affective and I'm actually _approachable._ "

"Not when you're pissed," he protested, voice laced with amusement. I huffed in irritation.

 _Not only is this big hothead a jerk, he's also bipolar. Awesome._


	26. 25 Anger, Frustration and Accusations

"Woah! Where can I get one of those!?" Mikey demanded as he watched the Jedi on the tv screen whip out their lightsabers. "Donnie! Can you make me one?"

"You'd destroy the whole city with one of those," Donnie pointed out.

"No I wouldn't! I'm careful!" The orange masked turtle turned to me excitedly. "Raiya, can you get me one?" I glanced at Leo, unsure of what to say. He shook his head with a light smile.

"Sorry Mikey, leader's orders." His face fell.

"Awww, you're no fun, Leo." The turtle's mood quickly returned to it's usual, joyful state as he cuddled closer to me and watched The Phantom Menace. Tired and enduring a headache from training, I gratefully sank into the couch and against Mikey's warm side.

When Mikey must've thought I was asleep, he started to whisper to his brothers over the movie,

"Dudes, check it out!"

"Mikey, _what_ are you doing?" Leo demanded, completely unimpressed.

"Chill bruh, I'm keeping her warm, she's freezing."

 _I'm always freezing._

"A blanket works just as well," Donnie said.

"Yeah but I'm a blanket _and_ a pillow, which is even better. Look! She's so cute..." Leo and Donnie shared a sigh, and probably an eye roll over their younger brother.

 _Where's R-?_

"You should leave her alone, Mikey."

 _Oh, there he is._

"Aw, are you jealous, Raph?" He teased. All four brothers momentarily fell silent at that.

"You're setting yourself up for disappointment," Raphael snapped. I tensed, causing Mikey to pull me closer.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Leo asked, immediately jumping to defend me.

The sound of battle droid blasters could be heard, still emanating quietly from the tv's speakers.

"You know what I mean. We're mutants. She's a human, she'll never like any of us as more than friends. So stop drooling over her."

"Raph-" Leo started, but his brother was having one of it.

"Nah Leo, I don't wanna hear any of your bullshit about how 'she's different' and 'we can trust her' and 'she's not like those Area 51 guys.'"

 _Area 51 guys!? Is he_ seriously _comparing me to professional alien nerds hired by the government!?_ I just about jumped up and murdered him then and there. Mikey sighed and remained quiet so as not to interfere in the growing argument.

Raph's words threw Leo over the edge.

"What's your deal with her, anyways? You _still_ haven't figured out that you can trust her? It's been four days of you following her around!"

More blaster fire and yelling. Lightsabers cut through the air and collided.

"My deal with her?" He snarled. "My _deal with her_ is that she's some rando girl you saved _fifty years_ ago and suddenly decided to drag into our lives, Leo! Our secret, dangerous, ninja lives of living like rats beneath the city and training to defeat the most dangerous villain in the whole goddamn world! You can't just drag someone into something like that! She could die!" Leo scoffed.

"I didn't drag her into anything! She _found_ me!"

"Why the hell did you stay to chat then? You could've ran and avoided all this! Now she's in the middle of it!" Leo sighed, allowing an uncomfortable silence to settle over the room.

"Raph, now's not the time for this." I could feel myself trembling slightly against Mikey, not with fear, but with rage.

The Phantom Menace still played.

I could feel a pair of eyes on me.

"You can stop pretending to sleep now. Only Mikey could sleep through that." I sighed in defeat and opened my eyes to see Leo smiling sadly at me.

I didn't look at Raphael, I couldn't. If I did, I would kill him. Instead, I forced a smile onto my face.

"You guys are really loud," I said with a fake yawn. Leo didn't buy it for a second.

"I'll take you home before you fall asleep on Mikey again." But his expression told me something else; _we need to talk._ Donnie hastily got up and ran over to the tv to take the disc from the DVD player.

"No, you guys can keep watching them. But I want them back, so keep them intact," I said before he could interrupt the movie Mikey kept glancing desperately at.

I stood from the couch and smoothed out my clothes before following Leo to the exit. I yelled a feigned cheerful goodbye, and received the same forced reply from Mikey and Donnie; but not Raph.

Leo must've been just as mad as I was. His hands were in fists and his jaw was clenched, with his eyes set in fire and his mouth an angry line. He sighed through his nose.

"I know you heard everything we said." Guilty, I didn't say anything. So he continued, "I'm sorry about what Raph said. We trust you and we know and like that you're different, but for some reason he refuses to. I'll talk with him and Sensei about the whole 'following you around' thing.'" I nodded, not knowing what to say.

"Do..." Leo hesitated, "do you...like us?"

"Of course I do. You guys are awesome! I mean, maybe Raph not so much, but he...he has his moments." He looked sideways at me.

"What do you mean?" I shrugged.

"There've been times in the past few days where he's surprised me. Like, I fell asleep outside on the roof with him one night and he brought me back to my bed. I don't know, all these nice, fun things and then he turns around and starts acting like an ass all over again. It's all just a stupid cycle, and I'm getting really fed up with it."

"You mean he was having fun with you before tonight?" He repeated, dumbfounded. I nodded.

"You were right, he does have a soft side." I couldn't help but smile as I recalled cleaning my room with him.

Leo said nothing. I didn't mind at first, but then his growing silence began to confuse me.

"Leo?"

"Huh?" He blinked rapidly and looked over at me sheepishly. "Oh, sorry. I must've zoned out." Awkwardly, I ran my fingers through my hair as we walked.

 _Since when is anything awkward between Leo and I?_

"Raiy? I...I'm sorry for dragging you into this. Raph's right, no human should be involved in our lives. It's too dangerous." I stopped in my tracks and stared at him in defiance,

"There's no way in hell that I'm gonna just remove you guys from my life because it's 'too dangerous.' Come on Leo, I can handle myself!" I crossed my arms. He sighed and wrung his hands together.

"I know, I just don't want anything happening to you." I shifted my weight uncomfortably, not knowing what to say or do. Leo smiled and started walking again.

"Come on, it's getting late."

"Ugh, and I have to get up early tomorrow for flight training," I groaned, making him laugh. I brightened when I remembered what my sister had told me earlier today during my break at the zoo.

"Olivia's gonna be out all day tomorrow so I might be able to hang out with you guys after I leave Uncle Tom's."

"Really?" He asked excitedly. I grinned and nodded.

"But I have no idea how to get to the lair from there so can you meet me somewhere?"

"Yeah, here..." I watched as Leo removed something from near his walkie-talkie. He placed a small, black, hard plastic disk in my hand. A round button covered most of it's face, with a ring on the top of it to clip onto a keychain. It looked like car keys, but minus the actual key.

"It's a tracker Donnie made. When you press the button it'll send me your location and I'll be able to find you."

 _This thing's so cute._

"Oh cool, thanks!" I stuffed it into my jacket pocket.

"No problem, Donnie made a bunch. You can keep it in case you ever need us. Uh, when does your training end?"

"It's usually like an hour, soooo around nine thirty." He nodded.

"Activate it when you get to your uncle's."

"Okay, thanks." Leo lifted a manhole cover out of the way for me and I climbed out of the sewers,

"I'll see you tomorrow," I said.

"Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

••• 影の秘密 •••

I climbed in through my bedroom window in case Olivia was already back. But I hesitated when I turned to close it.

 _What if Raphael comes tonight?_ I shook the thought from my head angrily. _Why do I care?_ But my fingers were stiff on the window pane; I _did_ care. And that annoyed me.

 _How can I possibly care about someone that big of a jerk?_ I rubbed my face and silently groaned in frustration. I knew exactly how.

Yeah, he acted like an ass a lot, but that was because he expressed himself differently than Mikey, who was open and unafraid to tell me how my eyes were pretty or something.

Raphael was indirect in sharing his feelings, and almost never spoke openely about them. He was always hesitant to show his feeIings around others, hiding them behind his anger or changing the subject. I understood all that about him surprisingly well, which must've been why we managed to get along so well for those few days.

I sighed. I probably shouldn't have gotten mad at him earlier, but I got so momentarily mad that I just reacted without thinking and then it was too late.

Ugh, that sounds exactly like something he would do.

I massaged my temples, trying to believe what my stupid head was telling me.

Trying to...Trying to...And failing to. It was just too hard. My heart was too strong for it's own good. And I wanted to accept what it was saying; trust it. But I was scared. I was scared of the consequences.

What would the others think? What would Olivia think? What would _he_ think? What would _he_ do?

It was this goddamn war inside of me, and it'd been going on for what felt like ever but I'd only noticed it now; when I was confused, and wanted an answer.

When I wanted to know what the hell was going on with me and why I kept having these random thoughts that caused my heart to flutter and my cheeks to flush and my body to ache for something that it couldn't have.

I gritted my teeth against the inner brawl, and yanked my shirt off to replace it with a light hoodie, then pulled on a pair of boy shorts.

 _I can't handle all this stupid shit right now. I just need to sleep._ So, not bothering to shower, I gratefully crawled under my bedcovers, which still held Raphael's bold scent. I breathed in the musk, the wood shavings, the metal; him. I could almost imagine him beside me, but that reality was too unrealistic to consider a possibility.

Yet, I hadn't closed the window.

 **AN: I'd** ** _reeeaaally_** **love to hear some feedback from you guys! How are you liking my story so far? Is there anything I can improve on?**

 **Also, sorry I made Raph act like a jerk, but that's kinda how he shows that he cares (but don't worry, he's literally the biggest and cutest softie ever, just you wait lol)**


	27. 26 The Midst of a War Zone – Part 1

I felt his eyes on me as I set the helicopter down sloppier than usual. I sighed and shut my eyes tightly, disappointed with myself.

I couldn't meet his gaze. He knew.

When the blades stopped rotating, I robotically climbed from my seat and pulled my helmet off, running my fingers through my hair to calm it down. I turned to see Uncle Tom watching me expectantly, as if waiting for a question to be answered.

 _Oh, shit._

"What?" I asked. He sighed through his nose.

"I said, is something bothering you?"

 _Ugh, if only I could tell you everything._ But he already knew something was up. When my flying was like that, something _had_ to be up. So I told the half truth.

"Just this guy I met a few days ago." His face darkened protectively at the mention of another male.

"What about this boy?" He pressed.

"No, don't worry, he's...not all that bad." He crossed his arms, unimpressed.

"Name?" I groaned internally.

 _He's gonna go all Sherlock Holmes on me._

"Raphael," I admitted.

"And what'd this guy do to you?"

"Nothing Uncle, I'm just confused..." I shrugged helplessly.

"About what?" I sighed and leaned against the aircraft.

"I don't know, I'm just getting mixed signals." Uncle Tom waited patiently for me to continue. "Like sometimes he's this huge, cocky asshole but he just hides behind that. He's actually really nice, and a good listener, and really fun to be around. But I'm not sure if he likes being that person around me because he always tries to hide all that behind his anger. And of course, it doesn't help when I get mad at him for being angry. But I can't help it! I just want to know if he likes being around me or if I'm just annoying. _God_ I hate boys!" I glanced over at him. "Not you though, Uncle Tom." He chuckled and leaned against the copter beside me.

"What did Olivia say about this boy?"

My heart faltered and I felt a cold rush along my spine.

"I didn't tell her," I admitted guiltily.

"Really?" He asked, thoroughly surprised, "why not?"

"I don't know. I just...ugh, I don't know. Sorry, just don't worry about it, I'll...I'll ask his brother."

" _Another_ boy?" He breathed.

"Well, actually three more," I said sheepishly.

" _Four_ _boys!?_ " He exclaimed. "Raiy!" I couldn't help but grin.

••• 影の秘密 •••

The manhole ground against the concrete as it was lifted out of the way. Leo waved me over and I hurriedly descended into the sewers.

"Okay, this thing," I waved the tracker in the air, "is _sick._ " He grinned.

"Donnie'll be happy to hear that you like it. He started working on something you can use to communicate with us easier."

"Oh nice, so like a mini phone?"

 _That would make everything so much easier._

"I have no idea, I just let him do his thing," he laughed, "how was flight training?" A groan slipped from my lips before I could even think of a reply. He laughed again.

"Bad?" He guessed.

"I kept on messing up! Ugh I was so sloppy, it was awful! And I don't think Uncle Tom was very impressed."

"Don't worry about it, everyone has their off days." I nodded in agreement and he narrowed his eyes at me, noticing my distracted face. "Something on your mind?"

"No, well...yeah, actually."

"Is it Raph?" He asked quietly and I nodded in frustration.

"And I can't figure out why." I did, I just didn't want to believe it. I shut my eyes tightly, drowning out the relentless inner turmoil. "Why do I care, Leo? I don't get it, he's such an ass! Ugh, but then he's so understanding and fun and why is he so ashamed of all that around me!?"

"He's ashamed of that around everyone, Raiy. The difference is we see just his angry side and you see both his sides. I think that he thinks it makes him weak and soft." I rubbed my face tiredly.

"I just hate how I care and he gives _zero_ shits."

"He does care," he protested and I nodded.

"I know, he just shows it differently. Like last night, but I was too pissed to notice." Leo chuckled and shook his head.

"You two aren't so different, you know."

 _He noticed that too?_

"Sensei decided that it would be best if Raphael didn't watch you anymore." This unexpected pang of disappointment flitted through me and I clenched my teeth, frustrated that I felt this way. I only nodded and tried to sound relieved.

"Okay."

 _No more late night talks, I guess._ I shook that thought from my head before I could dwell too much on it.

"So what do you think I'm learning tonight?" I asked, hopeful that it won't be another discussion over the differences of Yo, In and Zen.

"Probably basic offence to put those breathing techniques to use."

"Oh thank _god,_ another lecture and I'm going to lose my mind." Leo snorted.

"You think Sensei can talk a lot? Try listening to Donnie." I laughed.

"Talk about what?" He groaned.

 _"Everything."_

"Everything?" I repeated, holding back a laugh. "How does he know so much stuff if he's never been to school?" Leo smiled and shook his head before telling the story of how his brother's genius abilities were inspired,

"Before we started training in Ninjutsu, he would read every book he could find laying around. Even if it was a ping pong encyclopedia...And then he found a science textbook he refused to let out of his sight-"

"And that's when you all knew he'd become the world' biggest nerd."

"Yeah," he chuckled, "he set up the monitor wall and would spend every second he could reading and learning and listening to lectures on YouTube. Sensei got him to try and teach us some things a few times, but with Mikey either asking too many questions or getting sidetracked all the time, he eventually gave up."

"When I go back to school in another two months, I'll get him to do all my homework."

"He'd be so happy. I think he still has that textbook too."

"Of course he does. Oh, did you guys finish watching Star Wars?"

"Mikey did, but I don't think he understood anything. Donnie fell asleep. Splinter talked with Raph. I had to tackle Mikey this morning so he wouldn't start watching the second one without you." I laughed. "As long as he doesn't watch the third one without me. That one's my favourite."

"Does Anakin die?" He blurted. "I have a feeling he's gonna die. Or turn to the Dark side." I kept my best straight face but couldn't help being impressed with his accurate prediction of Anakin's fate.

"He does!" He cried, seeing right through me.

"I can't tell you that! You have to watch them to find out." My even expression and voice didn't waver, but somehow Leo saw past it as if my defences were no more than a glass wall.

"He's gonna get Padmè involved too, isn't he?" I kept my mouth clamped shut despite my amazement.

 _How is he doing that!? How does he know!?_

"He does!" He chuckled when I smacked his arm.

"Stop it! Do you want the whole plot or what!? Cuz I can tell you something that will ruin the rest of all the damn movies." His eyes glinted mischievously and he nodded but I shook my head.

"In that case, I think I'll let you keep wondering."

"I can just keep guessing," he pointed out.

"Don't you dare!" He opened his mouth to spew more questions that I just ignored and he ended up guessing and getting most of them right.

"You're like the annoying brother I never had," I muttered in exasperation. He laughed and playfully shoved me toward the sewer wall with his arm. I narrowly avoided the wall covered in slimy god knows what, then returned the gesture none too lightly. I only barely managed to make him stumble, then took off down the tunnel before he could get back at me. I could hear him chasing after me.

"You're gonna get lost!" Leo called, a smile lining his voice. But I'd recognized where we were and knew exactly how to get to the lair from there, the trick was to not think about it. I just focused on staying ahead of Leo and let my memory do the rest.

I grinned triumphantly when I saw the entrance and hurriedly punched in the code.

"Leo?" Mikey called the moment the door swung open, "is Raiya with you? Can I start the movie now?"

"Gimme a minute!" I yelled back, carefully dropping to the floor. The turtle poked his head into the training room with a frown.

"Where's Leo?" I grinned devilishly.

"Right behind me. I need you to quickly throw me up there." I pointed to the walkway above the octagon pedestal.

"Oh, I _love_ your mind!" Mikey quickly lifted me up, then dashed behind their bedroom archway to watch. Without a thought, I surfed through my mind and dove into the ancient waters of memories. Acrobatics flashed behind my eyelids, giving me a million and one ideas.

I firmly clasped my hands around the walkway and crouched near the edge, just below the entrance. Leo immediately dropped inside and looked around for me,

"Raiya?" He called, a grin playing across his face. As soon as he was directly below me, I hopped off the edge of the walkway and swung my legs. My feet connected with his shell and threw him forward with the force of my swing. I released my hands from the platform and landed on my feet beside his body, splayed across the floor.

Mikey was howling with laughter in their bedroom entrance. Leo groaned and looked up at me with a promise for revenge.

 _That's the last time_ he _pushes me into a nasty ass sewer tunnel wall!_

"Had enough yet?" I asked, crossing my arms across my chest.

"What the hell is-" Donnie appeared beside Mikey and narrowed his eyes in confusion at the scene before him.

"Raiy...Raiya kicked his ass!" Mikey explained, his laughter finally calming. Donnie turned to me with a grin.

"You did?" I gestured to Leo, still laying on the ground.

"I can't believe you guys let me miss that!" He said, making me perk up.

"Do you want a demonstration?"

"Say no," Leo groaned, finally getting to his feet. Donnie closed the port that still hung open and locked it.

"Only if I'm not the punching bag." I looked over at Leo with a grin and jostled him with my arm,

"Wanna go another round? Donnie missed my awesome victory." He rubbed his cheek and shook his head, still smiling.

"Tomorrow you're gonna regret that cute little stunt." I narrowed my eyes and inspected his face.

"Maybe I dropped you on your face too hard," I decided, brushing off his playful threat. He opened his mouth to defend himself but his brother cut him off.

"Playing the movie in five!...four!..." I ran past Leo and into the living room to grab the better seat first. Spying an empty spot next to Mikey on the couch, I vaulted over the backrest and landed lightly beside him, causing him to jump and stop his countdown. He clasped a hand over his heart.

"Girl you almost gave me a heart attack!" I grinned and patted his toned arm.

"Sorry." Leo claimed the pizza box chair.

"You are _really_ gonna get it tomorrow." At that, Mikey gasped and threw his arms around me protectively.

"Don't you even think about it," he warned. Donnie plopped into the beanbag chair and watched—unimpressed—as Mikey removed one arm from around me to play the movie, but kept his other slung across my shoulders and pulled me closer to him.

I didn't really mind. It was nice. But at the same time didn't feel right. It...it's hard to put into words but it just felt like something was... _wrong_.

I shook it off and focused on the opening scene, where Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin stood in an elevator side-by-side. Mikey's arm tightened around me excitedly.

"That old dude is still alive!? I thought he died! They burned him!" I laughed, remembering how I thought the same thing when I first watched this episode too.

"No, that's Obi-Wan and Anakin. They're just older. They look like Qui-Gon and young Obi-Wan because Jedi do their hair in a specific way based on their rank." I explained. Donnie absorbed this information like a sponge drier than the Sahara desert. Leo coughed.

 _"Nerd."_ Mikey's eyes remained glued to the tv screens of the monitor wall.

"Shhh!" He hushed us, desperately listening to the movie.

 **AN: So I wrote this chapter a really long time ago but kept forgetting to upload it until now (lol, sorry) and when I was writing I wasn't thinking about how long it would be so it ended up being like 4000 and something words, which is like way above my usual chapter lengths. And I decided it would be easier to do it in two separate 2000 word parts instead of one huge one. Btw the chapter title will make more sense in part 2.**

 **So how'd you guys like part 1? :D**


	28. 27 The Midst of a War Zone – Part 2

I glanced around, suddenly concerned about a certain turtle's whereabouts.

Resisting the urge to ask one of the brothers, I turned back to the movie and caught Leo's gaze in the process.

He knew. For whatever reason in hell, he just _knew._ He jerked his head to the right, towards Splinter's room. I grimaced inwardly.

 _I can imagine how much fun Raph's having with Sensei._ I only nodded to him and averted my gaze to the screens across the room.

I must've drifted off a bunch of times, because I'd open my eyes to answer one of Mikey's questions and the movie would seem to have jumped ahead fifteen minutes.

I didn't realize how tired I was. All those late nights...

 _Midnight talks._ I clenched my jaw and sharply locked the thought away into a cage in the back of my mind.

 _This inner turmoil shit is really starting to piss me off! Why the hell does it have to be so complicated! Why the hell can't I just decide and be done with it!? Why the hell am I allowing my heart and head to reenact the hundred year war!?_

 _Why!? Why!? Why!?_

 _Ugh!_

 _This is ridiculous! I just wish I'd never even met the turtles!_

 _ **Okay, maybe you're being a bit dramatic.**_

 _No, you're bring perfectly normal. Your life would be a million times easier if none of this had ever happened._

 _ **Who ever said the easy way is the better way?**_

 _You are, right now. Besides, that dick-head never deserved your company, so why should you stick around? You can walk outta here and never come back. Tell Leo you're done, stop lying to Olivia, get your life back._

 _ **Life isn't some stroll down Candy Cane Lane. It's this long highway with a million exits and pot holes and broken bridges with literally zero gas stations in sight. This is your life. It was always meant to be. And this exit you took is leading you down another highway. With new potholes, new bridges, new passengers and new horizons. Why would you ever turn around and just drop this?**_

 _Uh, because the biggest asshole in the world is sitting in the passenger seat and sending you careening into a volcano, only to save you. And then drop you again whenever you begin to trust him again._

 _ **That asshole has been living in a sewer with four other boys all his life, so of course he has awful social skills, what else can you expect from him? Impeccable manners?**_

 _That's still no excuse when Donnie and Leo are super polite._

 _ **Ugh, that's because they're all different people. Donnie's shyness prompts him to be considerate. Leo's been keeping his brothers in check and saving people all his life, he's just naturally courteous. Mikey literally says and does anything he thinks, but he's also the youngest so what else can you expect? And Raph...he just shows that he cares differently. And you know that from personal experience.**_

 _Raphael is a dick and cares nothing about you. He pretends to enjoy your company and care, but it kills him, which is why he eventually lashes out at you._

 _ **No, he's just afraid.**_

 _That guy is fearless!_

 _ **He may not be scared of horror movies and bad guys, but he's afraid of the people he cares about getting hurt. He's afraid of not being strong enough, and letting people down.**_

 _He hates who he is around me! Leo didn't even deny it!_

 _ **He's ashamed because he's afraid to let someone in, he's afraid of being himself and showing his weaknesses because he wants to be strong.**_

 _Raphael can be as strong as he fuckin wants then, you're done with his bullshit. You're done waiting and pretending like his outbursts are alright. He doesn't care, so neither will you._

 _ **It's only been like a week since you met them...that's an unreasonable amount of time for someone like Raph to just open up and trust you freely. He just needs more time, that's all. He cares...he just-**_

"Raiya? _Hellooooo?_ You still in there?" I blinked rapidly, a green hand waving in front of my face coming into focus.

I glanced around in slight confusion.

Star Wars was still playing. Mikey, Donnie and Leo all watched me worriedly.

I shook the drowsiness away, tucked the ongoing argument into the furthest crevice of my mind, and forced a tired smile to my face.

"Yep. Still alive," I confirmed. "What's up?"

"Sensei wants to see you." I hid my surprise as best I could upon hearing his voice. Raph stood leaning against the archway leading towards Splinter's room. He looked at me blankly, not the slightest emotion radiating off him. Sharp words echoed through my mind:

 _He doesn't care._ I lowered my eyes and nodded numbly. He pushed off the wall and walked briskly into their room as I got off the couch.

Leo caught my wrist as I passed him. I stopped and turned back to him.

"What's wrong?" He asked, his concerned voice low.

"Nothing, I'm fine." My best reassuring smile accompanied the fake cheerfulness. He hesitated, then released me with a look that said, _we'll talk later._

I left the sounds of the movie behind me as I pushed past the cloudy plastic strips hanging in an archway and entered Splinter's room. He stood at a shelf, rearranging miscellaneous items on it.

"You wanted to see me?" I inquired, not yet fully entering his room.

"Ah, Raiya." He turned and smiled warmly. The rat clasped his hands behind his back and made his way to the center of his room. I took this as an invitation and stepped past the threshold.

"I assume Leonardo has already told you about the new arrangements, but we decided last night that Raphael will remain in the lair." I bowed my head.

"I understand, Sensei." His eyes bore into my own uncomfortably, and I tried to look at anything else than his shiny, black, all-knowing eyes.

"What's this inner turmoil you're burdened with?" My throat went dry.

"Uh...wha-what turmoil?" I winced inwardly at my stutter and he smiled.

"Do not try to deny it, I've seen this recently and can identify this ordeal quite effectively. Would you like my help?" Assuming he'll be offended if I decline, I decided to ask a brief question.

"What's the best way to determine a person's trustworthiness?"

"That would vary based on who is involved. I cannot tell you what could sway Raphael's current opinion of you." I felt my cheeks heat.

"How could you tell?" I asked, glancing down at my feet in embarrassment.

"I'm a father. I know how my sons are, especially Raphael. I see the same, troubled look in his eyes." For a moment, I felt hope warm my chest.

 _He feels the same way! He's as confused as I am!_ But the spark was quickly diminished when I recalled his emotionless eyes boring into me only a few minutes ago. I sighed and smiled sadly.

"He doesn't care," I said with a shrug. Splinter chuckled and shook his head, as if I were a toddler that couldn't understand a simple concept.

"You share many similarities with my son."

 _Well that's only slightly insulting._

 _ **He noticed too!**_ I tilted my head, interested in what he had to say.

"Like what?" I prompted.

"Independence, bravery, fear..." he trailed off and I frowned in feigned confusion.

"But...Raph isn't afraid of anything." Despite my words, I suspected otherwise. I just wanted to hear him confirm my thoughts.

"Everyone is afraid, Raiya. But my son's fears are not mine to share." I bowed slightly.

"I understand, Sensei." He stepped closer to me reassuringly.

"If there's anything you ever need, Raiya, know that I am always here to help."

 _Tell him. Let him help you...But he can't. It's your decision, not his...He can still give you advice though, that's always useful._

"...can I ask you something? Just really quick?"

"Of course."

"So...this inner thing...it's...like my heart and my head are battling it out. Honestly, it's really annoying, and it's been going on forever. Do you...have any advice, maybe?" I asked hopefully.

"Hmmm," the rat stroked his thin beard thoughtfully, "I cannot tell you how to fight this battle, as it is not my own, but listen carefully to the voices. You will know which voice to trust if you listen, and when you've decided, do not hesitate or allow yourself to think twice. You must _always_ trust your instincts. That will always be one of your most important lessons as my student, Raiya. Do not forget it." I nodded, my mind feeling somewhat airy and detached from myself.

"Okay. Thank you, Sensei."

"You're very welcome." I bowed and swiftly left his room.

Leo immediately turned in his seat as I approached and shot me a silent question. I rolled my eyes in an _I'm fine, you worry too much_ manner.

"Well that was a long talk." Mikey commented as I fell back into the couch. "Why'd he want to see you?"

"Just to check up on me," I said, not wanting everyone to know about what we'd really spoken about. He nodded and proceeded to ask a question he'd had while I was with Splinter.

I leaned back against the pizza box backrest of the couch, falling deeper into my mind...

 _Where even is that jerk, anyways? Moping in his room and carving a little wooden knife to angry music? He can't even put something simple aside and sit with his family to watch a movie!_

 _ **He's dealing with his own little war, Sensei said so. He's going through exactly what you are.**_

 _Why? You didn't do anything to him like he did to you._

 _ **Raph's afraid and confused. Those random outbursts in the midst of his happiness are proof. He doesn't know wether to finally open up to somebody and trust you, or to basically shut you out like what he does to his family.**_

 _It shouldn't be that hard! He's followed you around for almost a week now, that should be enough!_

 _ **He's never been himself around someone before. It takes courage to shed your mask and show someone who you really are.**_

 _Why can't he be himself around his brothers? They're his family, not you._

 _ **He feels like it's his duty to protect them and be the big, fearless Raphael they all know him to be. He might be afraid of this new person he is around you.**_

 _Afraid!? That asshole's only fear is being seen by a human!_

 _ **Because he's scared of what they'll think of him! He doesn't want people to be afraid of him, he wants to be accepted despite his appearance and be the hero and be able to protect everyone. He doesn't want anyone to get hurt when he knows that he can protect them. He doesn't want to let anyone down.**_

 _Well the least he can do is explain all that to you._

 _ **He hasn't because he's afraid of what you'll think. He just needs more time.**_

 _More time? You've given him enough time!_

 _ **Raph may not appear human, but he still is. He makes mistakes, he has fears, gets confused and he needs time to figure out what he really wants. Just like you do.**_

There.

That blow had shaken the wall.

 _You already know what you want! You want to walk away and forget about this family of mutants. Reconcile your relationship with Olivia, get your normal life back._

 _ **No. You don't want normal. Who ever wants normal? What fun is that?**_

 _What fun is parading around in the sewers with mutants, constantly hiding from everyone and training to never actually defeat the Footclan?_

 _ **Adventure and friendship. Two things you've never experienced in your life.**_

There.

A crack now, growing gradually.

 _Those are things you can experience anywhere with anyone! Out of the sewers and with humans!_

 _ **Out of the sewers? With humans? Where's the fun in that? Where's the adventure? The ninjas? Mikey, Leo, Donnie and Raph? What's fun without them? They're your friends...The only friends you've ever known. Don't throw them away, don't run away from them. They care about you. All of them, even Raph.**_

There.

Crevasses everywhere, growing and growing.

 _Raph!? Ha! He doesn't care about anyone but himself!_

 ** _What about when he brought you inside that night after helping you get over your fear? And when he comforted you about your family? When he helped you clean your room? Oh, and when he actually_** **apologized** ** _for being a jerk? He does care. After he got over that initial untrustworthiness, he's been having fun hanging around you. He's laughed, he's smiled and he's cracked jokes, all with you. He's just trying to figure out wether to believe what his heart or his head is telling him right now. Leave him be, let him decide, then talk to him._**

There. The wall was gone. It'd finally given way and crumbled. At last, it was peaceful.

 **AN: So I tried a kinda different approach at inner turmoil and I wanna know what you guys thought of it! :)**

 **Also, I have a feeling that ya'll are gonna loooove my next update!**


	29. 28 All the Words We Leave Unspoken

I didn't want to wake up. No, I was too comfortable, too warm, too peaceful.

And that smell, oh how wonderful it was! I just couldn't get enough.

I couldn't help the smile that graced my lips as I shifted beneath the blanket and pressed my nose into a pillow, inhaling deeply.

 _Sweat. Musk. Metal. Wood-wait... wood?_ Reluctantly, I opened my eyes and looked around in confusion, blinking excessively from the sudden light.

It took me a few moments to realize that I was still in the lair. And it took my even longer to comprehend the fact that I was no longer on the couch with Mikey watching Star Wars. No, instead, I lay curled up in one of the beds in the turtles' bedroom. The mattress bearing red pillows and blankets.

 _Now I know why it smells like him._ I was laying in Raphael's bed. I sat up and rubbed my face, still thoroughly confused.

 _Why the hell am I sleeping in his bed!? I thought I fell asleep on the couch!_ I groaned and flopped back down, too tired to even begin to try and understand.

 _Why can't I ever fall asleep in my own bed?_ I sighed and closed my eyes in a useless attempt to fall back asleep.

Another sigh echoed through the lair, followed by heavy, yet silent footfalls. Neither my own.

Curious, I decided to keep up my sleeping facade.

The footfalls got louder and louder, coming closer and closer until they stopped in the archway of the bedroom opening into the training room.

I could feel the eyes of whichever brother stood there watching me. They watched for a long while, shifting their feet and arms every so often.

It definitely wasn't Mikey, or else he'd probably jump on me or scare me awake. It wasn't Splinter, his footsteps sounded different from these. And if it was Donnie, he would've felt too awkward watching me sleep and would leave immediately, so it couldn't be him. So was it Leo or Raph?

 _Leo. It has to be him. Raph would never–_

"I'm sorry."

 _Okay, maybe he would._

"I... I never thought everything would turn out like this." Raphael was holding something back, I could hear the strain in his voice, I could sense it. That and the war that still waged within him.

"I'm trying to decide wether I'm angry that you tracked down Leo... or grateful." After a moment of silent contemplation, he sighed in frustration.

"Nothing makes sense right now! It feels like Leo's in my head constantly yelling at me. There's one voice telling me to do one thing, and then there's this other voice that I want to believe, but I don't want to at the same time. It's just so _frustrating_."

 _I know, Raph. I know._

"I don't know what to believe or how to decide. I don't want to make the wrong decision... Sensei told me to trust my instincts, like always, but it's like they ran off on me, a–and I don't know what to do. And I... I figured you could help because you just... I don't know how, but it just feels like you understand me better than my brothers sometimes." He laughed lightly and walked over to fall into a mattress beside the one I Iaid in.

He remained silent for a long time, and I debated wether or not I should 'wake up'.

It was disconcerting, knowing that he was talking to me and I was listening to something he didn't actually intend for me to hear. I felt obligated to reply. Or to at least jump up and hug him, or kick his ass for being a jerk earlier. But I didn't do any of that. I just laid there with him in the oddly comfortable silence.

"I'm sorry I'm too much of a wuss to tell you all this when you're actually awake, but I'm..." he sighed and took a deep breath to force the words from his mouth. "I'm _scared_. I don't know what you'll think of me if I'm not the big fearless guy you know... Nobody has ever accepted us before. And I want to trust you, but I'm scared to." Another sigh. "I'm not this huge, fearless jerk, you know. I have a heart and I'm afraid of things. Actually, I'm afraid of a lot of things, and most of them are really stupid, too." He chuckled to himself and I could just picture him rubbing the back of his neck.

"I wish things were easier," he said, after a few minutes of quiet, "I wish our life wasn't so dangerous, and that I didn't look like... _this_. I wish I could just restart and meet you all over again, but without being a jerk the whole time. Maybe then I wouldn't have given you a million reasons to hate me in just a few days."

 _I don't hate you._ It took everything in me to not say it aloud, to keep it trapped inside along with everything else I wanted to say.

 _I'm sorry I got mad at you. I'm sorry your heart and your head are giving you hell right now, I know what it's like. And it's alright to be afraid, everyone has fears and I don't think less of you because of it. Having fears makes you more human. And I know you have a heart, because you've showed me before. I know that you're kind and funny when you're not hiding yourself behind a fake mask... And I know that it must be hard for you to trust a human, but I don't want to lose whatever it is that we have. I like talking and hanging out with you. Well, when you're not a jerk, that is. But I don't wish anything to be different. This... situation you're in has made you who you are. If you hadn't been mutated and lived beneath the city training with your brothers, then who would you be? Not the person you are now, not the person I've stayed up late at night talking and laughing with. Sure, things aren't exactly the best right now, but it'll get better. I promise._

••• 影の秘密 •••

My eyes shot open.

 _What time is it?_ I found my phone within the folds of a blanket, it having fallen out of my hoodie pocket while I was sleeping.

I sighed in relief when I saw it was only quarter to eleven. I looked around to see Raphael sprawled out on Mikey's bed, beside the one I laid in. The lair was completely silent. Taking that as a sign that everyone was asleep, I decided that I should probably head home.

I rolled out of Raph's bed, still blinking my eyes against the light, and tried to fix my mussed hair as best I could with my fingers.

My gaze fell on Raph as if my eyes had a will of their own. I covered my mouth with one hand to suppress my laughter.

He had one foot against one upturned corner of the mattress, leg bent at the knee, and the other straight and hanging off the edge of the bed. His arms were a tangled mess around his head, which was turned and pressed into a pillow.

I reached out and carefully tugged the pillow from his face so he could breath properly. His brow furrowed and he muttered something unintelligible in a low, scratchy voice that made my heart seize merely at the sound.

I smiled and turned to leave the room. Somehow, I managed to open the huge door, then pull it closed and locked it before walking off into the sewer maze, mind adrift with thoughts.

 **AN: Well that was CUUUUUTE. I basically died writing this chapter bcuz Raph is just so unconsciously sweet, I absolutely love writing about him and Raiya's weird little chemistry.**

 **Apologies for my lack of updates, I currently have some major writer's block that's been plaguing me forever, and I've also been kinda busy in CALI-FREAKING-FORNIA FOR THE PAST 2 WEEKS! (It was my first time outside of Canada, forgive my overexcitement) but it was also over 60 HOURS OF DRIVING.**

 ** _60._**

 ** _HOURS._**

 **But it gave me a lot of time to attack my writer's block and I was actually kind of successful, so hopefully I'll be updating more :)**

 **Also,** ** _pretty_** ** _pretty please_** **don't be a silent reader! I** ** _reeeaaally_** **wanna hear your guys' thoughts!**


	30. 29 Midnight Raid

"Shit!" I cursed as I tried to regain my footing after literally walking into a wall splitting my current tunnel into two. I frowned and narrowed my eyes at the unfamiliar graffiti markings below my hands and lining the tunnel wall I'd used to stabilize myself.

 _Did I make a wrong turn somewhere?_ I turned around, trying to find something I'd seen before that could put me back in the right direction, but my search came up empty. I was lost.

 _Shit._

I sighed and kept walking until I found an exit, knowing that I knew my way around the city better than the sewers.

Eventually, I found myself back in the streets of NYC, shivering against the cold and mentally cursing myself for never wearing a shirt underneath my hoodies. I looked around and groaned when I realized I was far from the apartment. Somehow, I'd managed to wind myself up along the coast.

 _How could I have been_ that _zoned out!?_ Frustrated with myself, I took out my phone to coordinate the fastest route home. I turned to speed walk my way there, when a loud whine that sent shivers down my spine made me stop before I could set a foot down in the other direction. I paused to listen.

 _It sounds like somebody's opening one of those huge crates. But why?_ I frowned and followed the noise. Something about it just didn't _feel_ right. The whining stopped and my mind began to immediately blare warning alarms. I knew I should've turned back, but I wouldn't allow myself to. Instead, I kept moving closer.

I crept along the outside of a chain-link fence covered with torn plastic sheets, looking for someway to get on the inside of the barrier... _There!_ Where the fence was supposed to meet with another fence to form a closed square, the two created a sort of passage that allowed access to the inside. I didn't even hesitate to walk down it.

That's when I heard the light footsteps of at least a dozen men wearing what sounded like combat boots. Some walked along the pavement and others on the inside of shipping crates. _Looking for something,_ my mind whispered. I held back a gasp of realization.

 _The Footclan. They were at the docks almost two weeks ago looking for something when Leo stopped them. Maybe they're back for whatever they were trying to steal!_ I peeked around the end of the fence.

I was right. A group of armed, black clad guys were moving about the crates, swinging the lights mounted on their guns around and scanning the place for their objective.

 _I have to go back to the lair and get the turtles. I– oh wait, I can just use this thing._ I pulled the tracker I'd used earlier from my pocket and pressed the button, praying that one of the brothers would receive the call and haul ass over here. I stuffed the device away and looked back up at the Foot soldiers, squinting through the darkness to try and see better.

A pair of them opened another crate by orders from the only girl there. She was clad completely in black—like the others—with a scarf wrapped haphazardly about her neck, but was armed only with a pistol tucked into her belt. Most of her jet black hair was pulled back into a high ponytail, with the exception being her partly dyed, bright, red-pink bangs and the sections of shorter hair on either side of her face. By the looks of it, she was the leader of the little group. She strode purposefully inside to check it's contents, and I could dimly hear their quiet voices conversing over comm units in what I assumed was Japanese.

From out of nowhere, my mind screamed a warning and I could sense something—or rather, some _one—_ right behind me. Instinctively, I sidestepped and quickly spun around to face my attacker. I don't know how, but one of the soldiers had managed to sneak up behind me.

He yelled into his comm in what was _definitely_ Japanese. Now in a panicked state, I lunged forward and ripped his gun from his hands, then used it as a club to hit his head with. The guy dropped to the ground just as arms encircled my abdomen, successfully pinning my arms to my sides as well, and forcefully dragged me out and into the open. I momentarily retreated into myself, swimming through my ancient memories and picking through them for the right ones. I grinned evilly and sent a silent thank you to the producer of Miss Congeniality, wrenching one arm free before using the SING method to escape my captor. He collapsed with a groan and I immediately lashed out at the next soldier that rushed forward.

It was all such a dreamy blur. I couldn't recall a single thing I'd done to fend off all those men, it was like I was sleep-fighting, if there was such a thing. A hand clamped around my wrist and yanked me from my entranced-warrior state, and then I was face to face with the female Footclan soldier. She regarded me in interest, which I returned with a heated glare. She snapped something in Japanese at the men restraining me and rotated on her heel sharply, black ponytail whipping around and narrowly missing my face. I stared after her angrily and attempted to wrench my hands from her men's iron grasp.

 _Come on you guys, where are you?_ My mind sang another warning and before I even knew what I was doing, I ducked my head forward to avoid the butt of a gun.

 _Asshole tried to knock me out!_ In the same instance that I avoided the assault, the remainder of the soldiers elsewhere started yelling and firing off gunshots.

 _They're here._ Using the soldiers' surprise and confusion to my advantage, I was able to free myself and I lifted my leg to high kick the two to the ground.

"God _damn_." I hissed in pain and clutched my inner thigh, burning from the sudden overextension. Biting back tears, I looked around and took in the chaos of it all.

One of the brothers had obviously received my distress signal and—by the sounds of it—was now tearing through the soldiers as if they were mere stalks of wheat. And that's when I remembered that they couldn't be seen, _especially_ by the Foot. I didn't know what I was going to do or how, I just knew that I had to do _something_.

Ignoring the protest in my thigh, I ran around a shipping crate and directly into the Footclan girl. She stumbled back and gaped at me, brown eyes wide in surprise. I took a step forward to take her down, but jumped out of my skin at the sight and sound of a shipping container being tossed across the yard and into a group of soldiers. She looked around desperately and yelled a single, foreign word before spinning on one foot and using the other to strike my face. Thanks to my ancestral instincts, I managed to dodge her first attack, but not the second. She swiftly recovered and lunged forward to slam her arm into the back of my neck. I slumped against the side of the metal crate as I slid to the ground with stars bursting across my vision. I was dimly aware of a brief sting in my wrist, then rapidly retreating footsteps.

Then a voice... a familiar one.

 _Wait, was that my name?_ I couldn't tell, everything was blurry and looked like a kaleidoscope. And _god_ , my _head._ It felt like there was an elephant strolling through my brain.

Oh, but then it was warm. So warm I could just... just fall asleep...

 **AN: I swear I was analyzing pics of Karai for like an hour trying to decide what freaking colour the dyed strands of her hair are. At first I thought it was just pink but then I thought that maybe it was red so I just went with red-pink lol**

 **Aaaaand a BIG thank you to my super sweet reviewers! I appreciate it TONS! :)**


	31. 30 Angry Mutants Again

_Oh, ow. My head._

"Fucking elephant," I muttered, holding my head and cracking my eyes open as I sat up.

 _I'm gonna kill that bitch when I see her again._

"What about an elephant?" I turned at the sound of his voice. Mikey sat cross-legged in a bed beside the one I was in, which I recognized as Raphael's. "Oh god." Mikey's blue eyes widened in horror. "You guys she has brain damage for sure!" A groan resonated from the living room.

"Mikey, I told you! Her cranium never came into violent contact with anything, so there's no way she could've damaged her brain!" Donnie called, obviously annoyed with his younger brother, who just ignored him and held a hand up in front of my face.

"How many fingers am I holding up?"

"Two," I said drily. "Mikey, I'm fine. My head just hurts a bit."

"See!" He cried, pointing a finger at me just as Donnie entered the room. "See I told you!"

 _Well that was the wrong thing to say in front of him._

"Mikey can you go get her an ice pack, some water and something to eat?" He asked calmly, stopping at the edge of my bed—or really, Raph's.

 _Wait, where_ is _Raph?_

"Where's Raph?" I blurted without a thought. Donnie grimaced and adjusted his glasses nervously.

"Ah, he's with Sensei."

 _Again? Oh, he is not going to be happy about that._

"He's not in trouble, is he?" I asked, not sure if I wanted to know the answer or not. He bit his lip and briefly glanced away, which was an answer in itself. I groaned and fell back into the bed.

"Damn it, this is all my fault."

"Well..." Donnie began to work up some way to reassure me that it wasn't, but trailed off upon realizing that it really was. "I mean, he could've been more discreet in saving you, but...uh." He cleared his throat. "So uhm, how do you feel?"

"Like shit. There's a headache in the back of my head right here..." I sat up and pressed a finger to the spot for a better explanation.

"Yeah, that's where you were hit, that's normal. Anything else?"

"Well I somehow did a high kick and probably pulled something in my groin. But hey, I didn't fall on my face." He chuckled.

"Oh yeah, I've done that before. Just treat it like a sore muscle, it'll heal on it's own." I nodded.

"Thanks Donnie... so uh, what happened?"

"Well I was asleep until Raphael ran in here with you unconscious and yelling at me to fix you, so I don't know much."

 _Oh my god he's going to kill me._ I sighed.

"Well I woke up at around eleven and everyone was passed out, so I left but I somehow zoned out and got myself lost in the sewers. I ended up near the docks where I found the Foot looking for something in the shipping crates. I used the little tracker thing you made, which is awesome by the way, and was going to go hide but then one of them found me and they were speaking Japanese so I had no idea what was going on. Anyways, Raph showed up and distracted them enough for me to escape, but I still got knocked out. And that's all I know. God, he's gonna murder me." I glanced toward Sensei's room a bit fearfully.

"I can sedate him long enough for someone to take you home," Donnie offered, only joking. I laughed.

"Yeah, then he'll wanna kill _both_ of us."

"Here you go, RaiyRaiy." Mikey tossed a water bottle at me as he reentered the bedroom. I smiled and rolled my eyes at the new nickname.

"Thanks." Gratefully, I took a swig of the cool water.

"What took you so long?" Donnie asked.

"I was tryna find something that was healthier than pizza," he said, shaking his head and handing me an ice pack and a bag of carrots. "Didn't think it was gonna be so hard!"

"I didn't think you guys even had anything other than pizza." I laughed, pressing the cold pack to the back of my neck.

"Me neither! I had to dig this out from under some burritos." Donnie recoiled in surprise.

"We have burritos?"

"Yeah bruh! I mean, they're probably expir–" Donnie bolted to his feet and was out through the door before he could even finish. I held back a laugh, not wanting to spew carrot everywhere.

"Since when does he like burritos so much?" I asked. Mikey shrugged.

"Since he figured out we have them, I guess." I laughed and went to eat another carrot when I frowned and paused upon noticing the absence of yet another turtle.

"Where's Leo?"

"Oh, him and Raph are getting their shells whipped," he said as if it were a regular occurrence. My jaw dropped in horror and the ice pack slipped from my hand.

" _What!?_ How'd I get _both_ of them in trouble!? What happened!?"

"Girl, chill! It wasn't you, don't worry. All I know is that when Raph got back here with you and Donnie went off to fix you, Leo got mad at him for not taking you home and letting you get hurt."

I groaned. "Mikey! That totally _is_ my fault!" He frowned in confusion.

"It is?"

"Yes! _Ugh!_ " I ran my fingers through my hair, frustrated.

 _Why am I the root of all these problems!? This never should have happened!_

"Woah! Hey, RaiyRaiy, don't worry. It's fine," Mikey soothed as he pulled me into a hug I didn't know I needed.

I relaxed against him and exhaled in an attempt to calm myself.

 _I'm sorry I'm causing so many things._

"Thanks, Mikey." I forced a smile to my face and released him before it got awkward.

"Anytime you need a hug just let me know, girl. I usually get hurt if I hug my bros." I started to laugh but was interrupted by a loud shout originating from Splinter's room. The rat's voice seemed to shake the whole lair with each word.

 _"Stop with this foolishness immediately!"_ Mikey shared a grimace with Donnie, who had finished devouring a burrito and decided to return.

"Sensei never yells," the younger turtle said quietly. Muffled voices conversed in lower tones until Leo stormed out and into the training room. I met his burning gaze, trying to see a glimpse of the soft, clam Leonardo. But it was buried deep beneath the angry fire.

 _This is my fault._ Upon seeing his brother in this state, Mikey darted into the living room without a word.

Leo didn't even look my way.

"Get her out of here," he snapped at his brother. I narrowed my eyes at him, no longer saddened, but angry. Donnie nodded submissively and looked over at me as I glared after Leo's retreating figure.

I hopped unsteadily to my feet and went to go after him, but Donnie caught my arm and shook his head.

"Don't, it'll only make it worse."

"Worse? How could it get worse!?" I hissed.

"Trust me, it can." I glanced hopelessly after Leo, who'd disappeared back into Splinter's room.

"Alright," I sighed, "I should be getting home before Olivia wakes up anyways."

••• 影の秘密 •••

It was still dark out when Donnie pushed the sewer panel out of the way for me.

"Come with me," I said, stepping toward the ladder. "I want to show you something." He hesitated and I grinned.

"Come on, you've never been above ground before. We can make it quick if you want and you can be back here before sunrise."

"I guess anything's better than dealing with Leo and Raph right now, but no more than an hour."

"Okay, follow me from the rooftops," I said, climbing out into the open. He nodded and disappeared into the shadows of a building. I tugged my hood up and exited the alleyway, quickly weaving in between people on the sidewalks to get home faster.

I didn't want to risk waking Olivia up, so I darted into an alley and climbed the fire escape onto the roof of the building next to the apartment.

"This is incredible!" Donnie whispered excitedly when I reached the top.

"Why are you whispering?" I laughed, "there's nobody around to hear us." I went over to my window and slid it open.

"Why isn't your window locked!?" He cried. "A million people could have robbed you!"

"Donnie, chill. I unlocked it earlier so I could get back in. And people usually don't steal from top floor apartments like ours." I climbed inside and ushered him in after me. With the gear on his shell it was a tight fit, but he managed it and closed the window behind him.

"Okay, close the blinds," I ordered in a quiet tone. He did, and plunged my room into an even darker interior, and allowing the paint on the roof to glow even brighter. I fell back onto my bed.

"Now look up." He did, and I could hear the breath catch in his throat.

"Are these the stars?" He breathed, after regaining his voice.

"Yeah. I didn't like not seeing them when we moved here, so I painted them on my roof."

"That's–that's Ursa Major!" He pointed excitedly to the constellation. I grinned when he didn't say the Big Dipper.

"And that's Polaris." I pointed to the North Star.

"How do you know?"

"If you look at the line these two stars make in Ursa Major, it leads to Polaris, and to make sure it actually is, you can check by making sure it's in the Ursa Minor constellation."

"Do you know all the constellations?" He asked in wonder.

"Yep. That's Orion... And Gemini... Cassiopeia... Corona Borealis... Cepheus..."

"...Wow," was all he said. I smiled and continued to name all the constellations and stars, sometimes telling the myths behind them.

"How do you know all these?" He asked at last.

"My mom taught me. We used to live in an incredible stargazing spot." I glanced over to check the time.

"The sun's gonna come up soon," I said, pushing myself off my bed.

"Oh, right! Thanks for showing me this, I'd love to learn more about it sometime–" He hurriedly pulled the blinds up.

"I have an astronomy book that I used to learn everything." I threw open a drawer in my bedside table that usually remained untouched for months, and I paused upon seeing the contents, but quickly shook it off and extracted the book my mother had given me.

Donnie noticed the sentimentality I held over the items in the drawer and shook his head.

"No, I–I can't. It's important to you, I–"

"Donnie," I interrupted and held the book out to him. "It's fine. It was a birthday gift from a million years ago. Just... don't let Mikey near it." The genius couldn't resist an opportunity to learn something new, so it didn't take much for him to cave and take the book from my outstretched hand.

"Thank you so much. I promise I'll return it intact," he said sincerely, then turned to open the window and crawl out.

"Thanks for everything," I said, leaning out the window after him.

"Anytime." The turtle tucked the book into his belt before disappearing off the edge of the roof. I sighed and tilted my head back to look up into the sky.

Somewhere, behind all those clouds and smog, there were stars.

 **AN: It was really different but I kinda liked writing moments with Raiya and Donnie. I might try to incorporate him and Mikey a little more. Since this chapter was kinda boring (sorry) I'm gonna be introducing a NEW CHARACTER in the** **next update! YAAYYYY!**

 **Thank you to all my wonderful reviewers! I love hearing from you guys! :D**

 **Also, I've started writing a Spider-Man: Homecoming fic if you'd like to check it out, I'd appreciate it TONS!**


	32. 31 Another New Friend?

"Liv?" I called her name despite knowing that she wasn't there. She left for work hours ago. Me? I slept in until nine o'clock.

 _Ugh. I have to leave for the zoo in two and a half hours._ I groaned and trudged into the kitchen in search of breakfast. After devouring a burrito I'd been craving since last night (courtesy of Donnie), I had a shower and got dressed in my zoo attire, then braided my hair back.

Having some extra time, I turned on my music and pulled out my sketchbook.

 _"-drive it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _All, night, long!_

 _Gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme gimme, yeah!_

 _Life is a highway!_

 _I wanna ride it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _Yeah I wanna drive it all, night, long, baby!_

 _If you're goin my way!_

 _You're goin my way!_

 _I wanna drive it!_

 _All, night, long._

 _All, night, long!"_ I smiled as the remainder of the song I'd paused days ago played out, and with it came the memory of that day and it's events. I turned past the page of Leo drawn on it and to a new sheet. I don't think I hesitated or even thought about what I was going to draw before I did so. My hand just started moving of it's own accord, seeming to know what I was doing before I did. But It didn't take me long to realize what—or really, _who—_ I was drawing. From the first familiar shape of his jawline, to the curve of the scar on his lip, I knew.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Liv, I'm telling you I was _so_ tired I _literally_ passed out at like, nine," I insisted, tearing a chunk off my muffin and tossing it into my mouth. I sat at a picnic table outside of the Dancing Crane Café at the zoo, taking advantage of my break by having a quick snack and calling my sister.

 _"Why are you so tired lately?"_ She asked.

 _Oh, probably cuz I spend my nights hanging out with mutant turtles in the sewer._

"I dunno," I said, shrugging helplessly even though she couldn't actually see me.

 _"Soooo, you don't wanna watch a movie tonight?"_ I snorted.

"Do you even _know_ me? I'd never pass up an opportunity to watch a movie."

 _"Oh I know,"_ she laughed, _"I was just making sure. And I was thinking we should watch Alien, it looks kinda cool."_ I grinned.

"I think that's the best idea you've ever had, sis."

 _She must have no idea it's supposed to be scary._

 _"Raiy,"_ she said warily, _"you have that tone in your voice."_

"What tone?" I asked innocently. _Damn, how does she know?_

 _"You know what tone. The one that means you know something I don't and you don't plan on telling me what it is."_ I paused in surprise, completely taken aback by this.

 _What do I say?_

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

 _"Right,"_ she didn't sound even a little convinced, _"well, I have to go. I'll see you later tonight."_

"Kay, bye."

 _"Bye."_

Sighing, I pulled my phone from my ear and dropped it on the table beside my now non-existent muffin. I did _not_ want to go back to the Tropic Zone, but I had to in a few minutes. I propped my elbow up on the table and leaned my cheek against my hand tiredly.

My fingers were tracing over the woven metal pattern of diamonds along the tabletop and my mind in a daze when somebody said something.

"Is this seat taken?" I looked up with a fake smile that immediately faltered when I saw a guy standing on the left side of my table. He was super built and tall (well, taller than me) with bright blue eyes and cropped, dark blonde hair. He wore light wash jeans and a leather jacket over a white t-shirt.

 _Why is this guy talking to me?_

"Uhm, no," I said, a bit wary.

"Cool," he grinned and sat down, "so uh, why are you here alone?" He asked.

"Why are you?" I countered, straightening my posture. He shrugged.

"Bored."

 _Who the hell comes to the zoo when they're bored?_

"I work here," I said, trying my best to remain polite. He nodded.

"Sounds like you really enjoy it." I managed a small smile and glanced down at my hands.

"I'm probably supposed to tell you that it's the best job in the world but that would be a lie." He chuckled.

"Where do you...?"

"In the Tropic Zone."

"Ahh, so you must know all about tropical animals?" I nodded and he raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Really?"

"Yep. Feel free to test me."

"Alright." He took a phone from his jacket pocket and tapped away at the screen.

 _Who the hell_ is _this guy?_

"Okay... what's the lemurs' conservation status?"

"Critically endangered," I answered, bored.

"How long are they?" He asked slowly, sounding slightly confused with his own question.

"How _long_ are they?" I repeated, "seriously?"

"Well, that's the second thing Wikipedia mentions."

"Like three and a half feet, I think."

"Oh, you think?" He repeated in a teasing tone.

"I _know,_ " I corrected. He smirked and checked his phone for the answer.

"Holy–! You were right!" Even though I'd guessed, it was still my turn to smirk.

"Told you." He chuckled and rubbed a hand over his face.

I inspected him closely, unable to decide how old he was. From what I could see, his entire upper body was insanely toned and I could see a bit of light stubble on his face, yet he looked and acted like his voice shouldn't have dropped for another year or two.

He must've read my expression, because he answered my question without me having to ask.

"I'm sixteen," he said with a crooked grin, "I play hockey, and my team does really intense training."

 _Oh, well that makes sense I guess._ I nodded.

"Uhm, I'm Raiya." I extended my hand and he shook it.

"Casey Jones," he smiled sheepishly, "sorry, that should've been the first thing I said." I smiled and shrugged slightly.

"That's okay."

"So... what do you do when you're not working here?"

 _I run around the sewers at night and train to be a kunoichi._

"My uncle trains me to be a helicopter pilot," I said, opting for my second most interesting hobby. Casey blinked in surprise.

"Are you serious?" He asked, laughing lightly in disbelief.

"Yep."

"No way, that is _sick_. Have you ever been skydiving before?" His eyes lit up with excitement, leading me to believe that he has.

"Ugh no, but I really want to."

"Oh man, you _have_ to, it's so fun," a huge grin took over his face, "you should take me out on a drive sometime, or a flight? Or what do you call it?"

"A flight," I smiled, "but I'm not sure my uncle is okay with me flying other people around yet."

 _Well that's lie, but the last thing I need is this guy in a confined area with me while I'm concentrating on operating an aircraft._ His grin didn't falter though, meaning he probably didn't catch on to my hint.

"Oh, that's cool. Maybe another time." I nodded and decided to take advantage of the topic lull.

"Yeah, maybe. But uh, I have to go. My break ended a while ago so I need to get back to work." I stood from my seat and picked up my muffin wrapper.

"Oh, yeah," Casey quickly got to his feet as well, "it was nice meeting you." I smiled and nodded.

"Yeah, it was nice meeting you too." He hesitated before asking another question.

"When are you usually here?"

 _Can I lie? Ugh. No, that'd be wrong, damn it._ I shrugged.

"Usually every second day from one to four-thirty, but days can change sometimes. Why?"

"I tend to be bored often." He grinned slyly.

"I guess I'll see you later then." I said, beginning to walk away. He held a hand up in farewell and I gratefully sped out of there.

Somehow it felt _wrong_ to be talking to him. First off, he's totally weird. Second, guys _never_ talk to me so there's definitely something up with him. And third, something about Casey reminded me of Raphael. It could've been his crooked grin, or his laugh, his fearlessness, or it was that odd feeling that overcame me and allowed me to relax and enjoy his presence. _God_ , it was weird.

I just... I couldn't understand it.

 **AN: Any Casey Jones fans out there!?**

 **So I was super sketched out writing this scene because I've never written anything regarding Casey Jones before so I have no idea what his character is like but oh well. I figured it would be kinda different and cool to throw him in** _ **before**_ **the plot of Out of the Shadows. But sadly, his role is super duper minor in TSS. So far, this is the only scene with him in it and I haven't made any plans to throw him in again,** _ **but**_ **if you guys want another scene with Casey, let me know and I'll see what I can do :)**

 **Aaand for those of you who don't know yet, I have plans for a sequel! And possibly (probably) a third book as well! I'm super pumped, as you can tell lol.**

 **Casey** _ **will**_ **have a major role in the sequel, since it follows the plot of Out of the Shadows. So if any of you guys are Jones fans you will not be disappointed!**


	33. 32 A Half-Truth

Olivia didn't handle the first scary scene very well. Or the second one.

About half-way through, she finally seemed to clue in and decided to remain under her blanket for the rest of the movie. I didn't mind it though. In fact, I thought it was awesome!

I don't know why, but I'd always loved horror movies. Olivia used to like watching them with me until she started having constant nightmare from Insidious 3, and ever since she's been getting more and more into romantic and feel-good movies and has refused to watch anything scary.

When the credits started rolling, I turned to Olivia excitedly.

"Let's watch the second one now!" She slowly pulled the blanket off of her face, revealing a death glare that only broadened my grin.

"You knew the whole time, didn't you?" She demanded and I shrugged.

"Mmmmaybe."

"Emmalyn _Raiya_ Carter!" Liv swatted my arm. "I _can't_ believe you didn't tell me!" I laughed and moved out of her range.

" _I_ can't believe you had five heart attacks in less than an hour." She harrumphed and crossed her arms.

"It wasn't my fault that I had no idea it was a horror movie!" She cried.

"Well it _was_ your idea to watch it, not mine. Technically I'm innocent." I grinned and picked a strawberry from our fruit plate sitting on the coffee table in front of us.

"I'm mad at you," she stated. I rolled my eyes.

"Alrighty then, Liv. You can pick the movie tomorrow or something."

"Oh! I forgot to tell you that I'm hanging out with Andy tomorrow!" She announced, all her previous anger seemingly disappearing.

"Really?" I asked, grabbing another strawberry. _These are really good._

"Yeah! He texted me today and asked if I wanted to do something tomorrow, so we're going to the modern art museum, then maybe the botanic garden." I raised my eyebrows.

"Wow."

"I know I'm so excited!" The dopiest grin I'd ever seen on my sister took over her face. I laughed and shook my head.

"Jeez, you really like this guy, huh?"

"Raiy," she said, her tone lowering to a serious one, "I know it's only been a few days, but... I really, _really_ like him."

 _Andy really makes her happy..._ As much as I disliked mushy, romance things, I couldn't help the squeal that escaped my grinning lips.

"Awww! I'm so happy he broke his leg and you guys met!" I threw my arms around her happily, despite my hugging hatred.

"I know! Me too!" She bounced with joy and hugged me back. Then I remembered the shit aspect of having a boyfriend and I pulled away to look at her rather fiercely.

"If he breaks your heart I'm gonna drop kick him to China," I promised, making her laugh.

"Thanks Raiy."

"Anytime. I'd never miss a chance like that."

"I know." She chuckled, taking a strawberry for herself. I bit my lip, trying to decide if I should ask her for help or not.

"...Hey Liv?" I started hesitantly. She turned to me. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She settled herself so she faced me better.

"Okay... you promise you won't be mad?" I confirmed, a bit nervous and hoping she wouldn't be too mad at me for keeping it a secret. Liv looked at me confusedly and a bit worried, but nodded anyways. I took a deep breath and continued.

"Okay, well my first day working at the zoo I met this guy–"

 _"AHHHHH!"_ She yelled and tackled me in a hug faster than the speed of light. "HOW COULD YOU NOT HAVE TOLD ME!? WHEN CAN I MEET HIM!? IS HE CUTE!? WHAT'S HIS NAME!?"

"Liv! Chill out and let me finish!" I tried to sound serious but I could hear the amusement in my own voice.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry." She released her grasp on me and backed away. "Keep talking."

"Okay, so I met this guy my first day at the zoo. His name is Raphael, he's super hot but of course he's a total hot-head and has awful social skills. The thing is, he hates the world and thinks he has to keep up this tough guy act all the time, but he's really just a total softie. And... his brother told me that I'm the only one he's ever opened up to. But sometimes when he opens up to me, he gets mad that he's showing weakness and masks it by lashing out at me. And... I just don't know how to deal with it. I mean he's so sweet sometimes and I really like being around him because we always have fun, but what do I do? His brother said that he heard Raph talking to himself recently, rehearsing an apology, but I haven't heard it yet."

"Do you like him?" She asked, grinning like an idiot. I sighed and shrugged helplessly.

"I don't know..." Her grin said that she knew something I didn't.

"Well, if you know he's trying to apologize to you and that he doesn't like showing weakness or whatever, then I would just give him time and let him decide if he wants to apologize or not. Because if he's not willing to keep things afloat and fix his mistakes, then he's not going to be worth it in the end." I nodded thoughtfully.

 _That makes perfect sense._

"Okay, thanks Liv." I smiled gratefully at her.

"Aww, anytime sis. I wish you'd ask for relationship advice more often." She played with the ends of her blonde hair absentmindedly. I snorted.

"I wish I didn't have to at all."

"Wait," she frowned suspiciously, "how do you even have time to hang out with this guy so much?"

"Oh, well the first day he asked me when I work so he could be there every time I am, then we exchanged numbers. Plus, my break is pretty long and I usually have a lot of downtime."

"Do you _ever_ work?" She asked incredulously.

"My kind of work involves tolerating dumb questions and telling children to stop banging on all the glass enclosures," I muttered, annoyed just by thinking about it. She grinned.

"Makes you love kids, huh?"

"Yep, I think I'm gonna have a million little monsters of my own." She laughed.

"What does your hottie think of that?" I knitted my eyebrows together in thought.

 _What_ does _he think of kids? Probably nothing good thanks to Mikey._ I shrugged.

"I have no idea..." Then I frowned. "Wait. _My_ hottie?"

"Yeah," Olivia laughed as if it were a normal thing that I should be cool with, "he _is_ yours, don't you think? Sounds like you two are pretty close. _I_ think you got him snagged." She claimed the last strawberry from the plate and leaned back against the couch.

"I–I don't know," I admitted. _I've never 'had a hottie' before... I don't even know what that means._

"Well, keep me updated on this guy," she said, standing from the couch and picking up the empty fruit plate, "I wanna know _aaaall_ about him!" Her voice drifted away with her as she retreated to the kitchen. I bit my lip nervously.

 _Maybe I shouldn't have told her about Raph. But how can it hurt!? She thinks he's a human! Oh shoot, she'll wanna meet him then._ I ran my fingers through my hair and held back a groan.

 _It's okay, the turtles don't have to know..._

 **AN: Uggghhhhh you guyssss I started school today and I want to diiiiieeeee. My workload this semester is going to be INSAAAANE. I have physics, bio, chem AND math(bcuz I'm an idiot and assume I can handle all that smart person shit) which means I'm gonna have a RIDICULOUS amount of homework and not a lot of time for writing. I want to cry. I wish I was smart lolol.**

 **So yeah, updating's gonna be kinda slow because school's a bitch (sorry lol I really hate school).**

 **I'm also super sorry for the short chapter, but I'll totally make up for it because the next update is gonna be FREAKING AWESOME. HOPE Y'ALL ARE PREPARED FOR SOME MAJOR CUTE FLUFF. I'm actually so excited for you guys to read it, it's gonna be great :DD anyways, I'll stop talking cuz I got some homework to finish.**


	34. 33 Starry Eyed

_Tap tap._

I paused in confusion, halfway through my braid.

 _I swear I just heard something..._

 _Tap tap tap._

 _There! That! What the hell...?_ I poked my head out of my bathroom door and looked at the window suspiciously.

 _Are one of the turtles–?_

 _TAP TAP TAP TAP._

 _Yep, that must be Leo._ I cursed and dropped my hands from my wet hair to quickly raise the blinds and open the window before Olivia could hear anything.

"Leo, I–" I stopped, my jaw hitting the floor upon seeing a red bandana instead of a blue one. Raphael raised a brow at me but didn't comment on it. I wanted to die when I felt rose creep up my cheeks.

 _I_ never _blush in front of him, what the hell is up with me!?_ Raph glanced over me with a smirk.

"That's cute." I looked down at myself in horror. I wore only black boy shorts and a lavender camisole that was hiked up above my belly button, probably from lifting my arms to do my hair. This time, I cursed verbally and hastily grabbed the biggest hoodie I owned from it's place hanging on the wall, then threw it on. He snickered at my reaction, making my face flush further. I pushed hair from my face and crossed my arms, waiting for an explanation from him. He just stared back at me with an amused expression, his chin propped on his arms, which rested on my window sill.

At last, he blinked and I grinned triumphantly.

"Ha! I win!" Raph scowled.

"You win _what?_ "

"The staring contest," I stated simply, dropping my hands into my hoodie pocket.

" _What_ staring contest?"

"The one we just–ugh. Never mind." Raph narrowed his eyes in confusion at me, and I sighed. "Okay, can you just get in here already? It's weird seeing just your head sitting in my window." He smirked and carefully climbed inside, giving me a chance to slap some sense into myself while he wasn't focused on me.

I plopped down onto my bed and crossed my legs, watching as Raphael sat in my desk chair and looked up at me in concern.

 _What's he suddenly so concerned about?_ I was about to ask as much but he spoke before I could.

"Are you okay? Did they hurt you?" I narrowed my eyes at him in confusion.

"What do you–ohhhh! Right!" _The Footclan!_ Somehow, I'd completely forgotten about my little scuffle with them.

"No, I'm fine. They didn't really do anything to me, but I'll definitely be pounding a few heads in if I ever seem them again," I muttered, thinking of that Footclan girl. His entire being relaxed as he let out a huge breath of relief.

"I didn't get to talk to you last night after I brought you back to the lair. Leo sent you out and you and Donnie were gone before I could catch you." I nodded.

"What was up with him?" Apparently, it was worse than I thought because Raphael's relaxation was instantly replaced with fury.

 _Shit. Bad idea, Raiya. Bad idea!_

"He was mad at me for letting you run into the Footclan and get hurt," he growled.

"I'm fine though!" I protested. _What is with Leo being so overprotective of me! It's sweet, but he's gotta chill sometimes!_ He snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, well we didn't know that cuz he was too busy yelling at me." I bit my lip and glanced down at my hands in my lap.

"Sorry, that's my bad. I didn't mean to get lost, I just zoned out on my way home and I ended up near the docks and it all went to hell from there." I looked up at him apologetically. "I'm really sorry if you got in trouble for anything, it was totally my fault." He shrugged it off like it wasn't a big deal, but I knew that he hated getting yelled at by Leonardo. I inhaled a big breath and continued. "I'm sorry that I'm causing so much shit in your family. I never meant to, but it turns out I'm a shit disturber when I'm around you guys." I shrugged solemnly and propped my elbow on my knee to rest my chin in my upturned palm.

A smile graced my lips when I felt a familiar warmth spread throughout me; one I hadn't felt since Raphael and I had our little falling out and didn't speak with each other. Still smiling, I made eye contact with him and continued.

"I missed talking with you, it's nice. It feels like you haven't spoken to me in forever." Raph glanced away uncomfortably and sighed a long, long sigh.

"I know, I... I'm sorry," he said. I could see the fear in his emerald eyes, the way his muscles remained tense and his breathing was faster than usual—he was scared. It hit me then, that it must've taken an insane amount of courage for him to come to my window and say all this. I couldn't help the way my heart sped up at the thought and my cheeks warmed _again_.

He noticed my reaction and rubbed his hands over his face with a chuckle.

"You're making this so much harder," he groaned. A laugh escaped me and I fell back onto my bed.

"What am I doing?" I asked throwing my hands up and letting them fall to my side. When he didn't answer, I frowned and propped myself up on my forearms. "Raph?" He shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

"Nothing, you're just... being you." I felt my cheeks beginning to heat up so I fell back and looked up at the roof instead.

"Okay, I'll look at something else if that helps." Raphael remained silent for a long time, but I didn't say anything. I didn't mind. He could take all the time in the world and I would lay there, waiting.

"I'm sorry," he whispered at last. It was a repeat of what he'd already said, but it still held meaning.

"What are you sorry for?" I asked softly, straining to keep myself from looking at him.

"...For being afraid," he sighed. I bit my lip and fiddled with my fingers resting on my chest.

"Raph... being afraid isn't bad, it makes you stronger." His confused silence prompted me to continue. "You were afraid to come here and apologize, weren't you?"

"Yeah," he admitted quietly.

"Well... you're facing that fear right now, and it's making you stronger because now you're not afraid, right?"

"No, I'm still afraid." He chuckled sheepishly and I grinned.

"Well, this big softie once told me that by not facing your fears, it'll make you more and more afraid until it consumes you." I hesitated before sitting up and meeting his fearful gaze. "What are you afraid of?"

"I–I'm afraid of what you'll think of me. I'm afraid that I won't be strong enough to keep you and my family and everyone safe." I opened my mouth to say something, but he wasn't finished.

"I'm sorry I was such an ass to you and I've been too afraid to tell you this before. And I get it if you hate me for it, but I really hope you can forgive me and we can go back to hanging out like we used to. I don't want to lose the only person who's ever really understood me. I like being around you, Raiya. I know I don't show it, but I really do. You just..." He chuckled and shrugged his broad shoulders. "I don't know, you just make me happy somehow." I swear my mouth was going to tear at the corners I was grinning so huge.

"Awwwwww," I sang, tilting my head at him, "you're such a softie." He laughed, using a foot to spin the chair side-to-side aimlessly.

"Thanks, Raiy."

"And guess what?" I sat up and waited for him to ask.

"What?"

"Are you still afraid?" He frowned, his brow knitting together in thought.

"No," he breathed.

"See," I picked up the forgotten strands of my wet hair and began to re-braid them, "now you're stronger." He watched me in amusement.

"What?" I asked, trying not to laugh.

"Why are you braiding your hair right now?"

 _Really?_ That's _what he's laughing at?_

"Because it'll make my hair wavy when I take it out in the morning."

"Really?" He asked in surprise.

"Yes." I laughed. He smiled and spun the chair so it faced my desk. Just as I tied my braid off with an elastic, I remembered something. I jumped up and dashed over to find him flipping through my sketch book.

"Raph!" I went to snatch it from his hands, but he was faster and swiped it out of my reach. "Put it down!" I hissed.

"Why?" He smirked, "got something to hide?"

 _Yes!_

"No!" I tried to take the book from him but he kept his back to me so him and the chair were always between me and my sketchbook.

"Are you _sure?_ " He teased, flipping the page to an old drawing of a falcon.

" _Raphael_ _whateverthehellyourlastnameis_ I swear to god I'm going to kill you." He paused at that.

"I don't have a last name," he repeated, dumbstruck. Recognizing my chance, I lunged desperately. But Raph—with his insane ninja reflexes—effortlessly evaded my attack and kept turning the pages despite my infinite tirade of protests.

"You know, these are really good," he commented, not taking any notice of my attempts to reclaim my sketchbook. I started panicking when I saw one of my drawings of Leo. He was dangerously close to my most recent creation, so I decided to change tactics.

"Raaaaaaph," I pouted, crossing my arms and plopping back onto my bed for emphasis, "you're being mean."

"Oh, am I?" He asked, not buying my little act. When I caught the movement of his fingers turning the page I laid back and groaned, covering my face with my hands in embarrassment. Raphael must've been silent for at least five minutes before saying anything.

"Do I really look like this?" He asked quietly. I couldn't determine from his tone wether or not he wanted an answer, so I didn't say anything. "Raiy?" He prompted.

"Just let me die," I muttered, removing my hands from my face—which was undoubtedly doing a spectacular imitation of a cherry—and sitting up to look at him. He was too busy staring down at the drawing in his hands to notice me though, much to my relief.

"Mikey's gonna be so jealous," he breathed a laugh and looked over at me. He wasn't angry or disgusted or weirded out; he was _amused._ "This is incredible, it looks just like me!"

 _God damn it Raiya, say something and make it less awkward!_ Somehow, I found the courage to speak.

" _Almost_ just like you," I corrected, getting up and walking over. I didn't look at him as I took my sketchbook from his hands and selected a bunch of coloured pencils from a drawer in my desk. "Didn't you notice the lack of irises?" I turned back around, forcing myself to face him. Thankfully, Raphael's amusement had dissipated enough for my cheeks to resume their normal colour.

"What are you doing?" He asked slyly, already knowing the answer.

"Finishing my drawing," I said simply, not missing a beat. "So hold still and don't blink too much."

Raphael's eyes were much more complex than Leo's with their layers of forest green and pale green weaving beneath and overtop of each other to create a bright, olive blanket for the bold streaks of golden yellow and the occasional strike of orange.

He didn't say anything as I worked. He only stared at me.

 _He's only staring because you need to see his eyes,_ I kept reminding myself. Every time I glanced up at him to observe his eyes, I held his gaze for longer and longer, and each time it got harder and harder to look away.

He was just so captivating.

It was like looking up into the night sky and seeing the stars so bright and clear for the first time in what felt like years, and you just couldn't look away; It felt as if the darkness was swallowing you up in it's entirety of magnificence.

When I looked in his eyes... it was like I could see the stars again. And I wanted nothing more in my heart than to stargaze.

I swallowed and tore my gaze from his. "Okay," I said, "I'm done." Raphael grinned excitedly and took my sketchbook from me to look at it.

"I thought my eyes were just green," he murmured, eyes wide and staring down at the drawing in amazement. "Do they really look like this?" I laughed at his wondrous expression when he turned to me.

"Yeah."

"That's so cool." He looked back down at it as if he couldn't get enough. "How'd you do this?"

"I-I don't know. It kinda just happens." I shrugged and ran my fingers over my braid, not knowing what to do with them.

"What do your eyes look like?" I completely froze up when he said that.

 _Uh-oh. Please don't. Nope nope nope nope nope._ My breath caught in my throat when he stood from the chair and stepped closer to me.

"Uh, they're just like a blue-grey. Kinda like Mikey's," I squeaked, hoping to deter his intentions, but to no avail.

Raphael set my sketchbook down on my desk I was leaning against and planted both his arms on either side of me so I was trapped. I held my breath as he leaned closer. My heartbeat very closely resembled that of a hummingbird's, and I swear he could hear it.

I tried to say something, but was unable to conjure a single sound. He was so close I could feel his breath warm my face in gentle drafts. His alluring smell filled my nose and made me want nothing more than to be _closer_.

 _Closer,_ my mind begged. It took everything in me to remain still. If I were to move forward even an inch, we'd be dangerously close to kissing. And _that_ was not something I was even remotely prepared for right now. Because if I was being honest, I'd probably die instantaneously from shock if that happened right now. But god _damn_ was he ever sexy.

His eyes held mine in an infinite, iron grip. I couldn't look away, but I didn't mind. I didn't want to. I felt empowered under his gaze; fearless. So I closed the gap.

My eyes fluttered shut as I leaned forward to rest my forehead against his. If possible, my heart rate seemed to increase tenfold. But this _feeling_. _God,_ it was like a wildfire spreading from my chest and warming my entire body, setting every nerve-ending aflame with passion and want and... and something foreign. I didn't know what it was, but at the moment I couldn't care less. This. _This_ is what made my life feel complete; like I'd found a piece I'd been missing this whole time.

"Are you still afraid?" I murmured, opening my eyes to meet his.

"Terrified," he breathed, his voice husky and sending tremors down my spine. The moment I saw the smile in his eyes, I laughed. I just couldn't help it! This was so unlike the Raphael I'd thought him out to be!

"What?" He chuckled, pulling away from me and standing up to his full height so he looked down at me instead. "What are you laughing at?"

"You!" I giggled. "Because the Raphael you've been pretending to be would never have done any of this. I'm laughing because it's weird." Still on the Raphael-induced high, I didn't hesitate to stand up on my tiptoes and throw my arms around his neck.

"It's a good thing normal's boring," I murmured into his neck. He took a few moments to respond and wrap his arms around me, pressing my body against his. I could feel his rapid heartbeat and smiled, knowing that I was the cause of it.

"Thank you," I said.

"For what?" He asked in confusion, voice low.

"For showing me the _real_ you," I said softly. Then added, " _and_ for finally growing a pair." His chest vibrated with laughter, causing me to involuntarily shiver in delight.

"Are we good?" He asked.

"Yeah. We're good." I felt his arms tighten around me briefly, before reluctantly releasing me.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" His eyes shone with this newfound certainty; like he was confident in his decision to trust me.

I nodded. "Olivia's going out with that guy she's basically in love with and I don't have flight training until six, so I can hang out with you guys all day."

"Cool. I hope you're better at Call of Duty than you are at Mortal Kombat." My jaw dropped at the playful insult.

"Oh, you'll regret that tomorrow," I promised evilly.

"Good, I'll die if I don't find something interesting to do anyways."

I grinned. "Tell Mikey I'll bring my sketchbook so I can finally draw him like he wanted me to."

"Sounds good." He nodded and turned to climb out my still open window. A cold draft blew in, making me shiver and hug myself against the chill. I strode over to my window and leaned against the sill. But Raphael had only taken a few steps forward when he stopped and quickly wheeled back around to return to my window.

 _What'd he forget?_

"Thanks," was all he said, and it was all that needed to be. I knew. I understood.

When he'd disappeared into the night, I locked my window and pulled the blinds over it. I bit my lip and smiled girlishly to myself as I relived everything that had just transpired, causing my cheeks to blush. I plopped back onto my bed and looked up at the star-spangled ceiling, still in a daze. A nervous yet excited giggle escaped me before I knew what was happening. Gasping—in shock and slight horror—I clapped a hand over my mouth.

 _Did I just giggle? ..._ _What is going on with me?_

 **AN: I** **'M ACTUALLY DYING.** **I JUST I LOVE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH I COULD LITERALLY DIE. I WAS SQUEALING LIKE THE WHOLE TIME I WROTE THIS I SWEAR. AND PROBABLY MY FAVOURITE LINE LIKE EVER:**

 **"When I looked in his eyes... it was like I could see the stars again. And I wanted nothing more in my heart than to stargaze."**

 **AND I PRESENT TO YOU THE ABSOLUTE BEST FREAKING LINE I HAVE EVER WRITTEN (that's actually just my opinion but I swear it really is lol). It literally summarizes all of Raiya's feelings towards Raph and I know I've said this a lot but I'm gonna say it again cuz I just love it so much. I was so frickin proud of myself when I just whipped this outa nowhere and then I read it over and I was like 'woah man. That's actually PRETTY FREAKING AWESOME!'**

 **Also, I'm gonna update on Wednesdays now cuz Tuesdays are becoming a bit to crazy to handle :)**

 **So yeah.**

 **Thanks a ton to all my readers! I love you guys! It's awesome seeing all the follows and favourites on TSS!**

 **And of course my reviewers! You guys are AWESOME and it's probably my fav thing to see all the review notifications and hear your thoughts! I appreciate it so much :D :D**

 **I'm SUPER excited to hear what you guys thought of this somewhat cliché yet ridiculously cute chapter!**


	35. 34 Return to Normality

"Raiya!" Olivia's cheerful, sing-songy voice roused me from my sleep, making me groan and turn over.

"Liiiiv," I complained, "I was having a good dream."

"What was it about?" Her voice was right outside my closed door. I scrunched my face up, trying to recall it.

"Can't remember. But it was so good!" I whined, pressing my face into a pillow.

"Well you better make yourself look presentable. Andy's gonna be here in fifteen minutes and you're meeting him wether you're decent or not." That was all she needed to say for me to jump to my feet and race about my room to get ready.

I was going to the lair as soon as they were gone, but the last thing I needed was Liv's future husband thinking I was a slob, so I grudgingly decided that I should dress less like a homeless person today. Green camo-print leggings and a fitting white tank-top was at last decided upon. I took my hair from it's braid and ran a brush through it, satisfied with the auburn waves it created.

"Raiya!" Olivia called.

"Chill out, I'm coming!" I yelled, brushing mascara onto my nonexistent eyelashes. I grabbed a black leather jacket from my closet and pulled it on as I left my room.

"Oh my god, you're going to a museum not the Yule ball," I laughed, seeing Olivia hurrying around the kitchen cleaning like a madwoman.

"I'm overdressed!?" She shrieked, looking down at herself in a panic.

She wore a dark purple halter dress that came to just below her knees and her hair was twisted up into a fancy bun I had no idea she was capable of doing.

"Uhm, yeah. By a lot. When's he going to be here again?" She glanced at the oven, which displayed the time, and I thought she was going to have a stroke.

"Two minutes!"

"Okay, come on, we have to fix this or else he'll think you're expecting a proposal." I hurried into her room and threw the closet door open, searching for something more casual.

"Would that be such a bad thing, though?" She asked innocently.

"Yes!" I cried, grabbing a pair of skinny, light wash jeans. "Put these on." She took the pants from my hand and did as she was told.

"You know, this is usually supposed to be the other way around." I laughed, sifting through her nicer selection of tops. She snorted.

"Yeah, too bad you don't have a man so I can persuade you out of wearing a hoodie to one of your dates." I grinned and threw a pastel pink long-sleeve shirt at her.

"Put that on too, I'll find a necklace." There was a knock on the apartment door just as I selected a long, thin, silver chain that held a heart locket strung on it.

"Shoot, here! Take it take it take it!" I dropped the necklace into her palm and raced into the kitchen to pretend clean. Olivia ran out behind me and fixed her rushed appearance a little before opening the door with a big smile.

"Hey!"

"Hey, Liv. You look awesome!"

 _Hell yeah she does, kudos to me!_ I rolled my eyes when she giggled, then said,

"Thanks. Come on in, I want you to meet my sister." I heard the door close softly.

"Raiy?" She called. I dried my hands on a dish towel and left the kitchen to meet them near the doorway. Andy was only a few inches taller than Olivia, with coffee skin and clean cut, curly black hair. He had a fair amount of stubble along his jawline that told me he hadn't shaved for a while, and he wore jeans with a light blue button-up shirt.

"Andy, this is my younger sister, Raiya. Raiy, this is Andy."

"Hi, it's nice to meet you." He held his hand out, a big smile on his face. I returned the smile and shook his hand.

"You too, Liv hasn't stopped talking about you since you guys met," I said. He grinned over at her.

"Really?" Her face turned a bright red and she stuttered over an excuse.

"Uh...n–no, that's–"

"Liv, I don't think I've heard you talk that much since _what'shisname_ got you that rose in grade eight." Andy chuckled.

"Looks like I have some competition then, huh?"

"Oh for sure, watch out for any guys by the name of Jason."

"Oh I know a Jason! What was his last name?"

"I think -"

"OKAY. _I_ think that's enough for now, thank you _so_ much Raiya, but we have to go." Liv shot me an annoyed look that I returned with a grin.

"See ya later!"

"It was nice meeting you, Raiya!" Andy called, laughing as Olivia shut the door behind them.

 _Oh she is_ so _going to kill me later for that, but I just couldn't resist!_ I had a quick breakfast of toast before grabbing my art supplies and climbing out the window in my room. I clicked on my tracker as I descended the fire escape into the alley to wait for one of turtles.

"Raiya." I jumped and held back a scream, then turned to the sewer entrance.

"Raph!?" I hissed in disbelief. _How'd he get here so fast!?_

"Get over here." He shoved the panel out of the way and climbed back down. I hurried in after him and he replaced the grate as soon as I was in.

"How'd you get here so fast?" I asked, stuffing the tracker into my jacket pocket.

"I was already here waiting for you," he snorted. "I'm not the Flash, you know." I rolled my eyes as we walked down the tunnel.

"I know. But... why're you waiting for me? And how long have you been here?" Raph shrugged.

"Not very long." But I could see right through him,

"That has to be the worst lie I've ever heard." I grinned up at him, but he was busy ogling me.

 _Oh my god!_

"Raph!" I punched his arm. "Stop it!" He didn't seem the least bit guilty and only grinned crookedly, making my heart skip a beat and double it's pace.

"Why? You're cute when you blush." He laughed when my cheeks heated even more.

"Oh, so it's cute when my face is redder than my hair?" I snapped, but was unable to a convey even a smidgen of anger.

"Yeah," he chuckled. "It is." I crossed my arms in a pout, which only succeeded in furthering his amusement.

"Did you bring your whole desk with you?" He joked, poking my backpack.

"Shut up," I laughed, swinging my bag so it hit his arm. "I only brought the essentials."

"Which are...?" He prompted, raising a brow.

"Graphite pencils, coloured pencils, erasers, blenders and my sketchbook," I explained.

"That's a lot of essentials," he pointed out.

 _Is he kidding?_ His expression told me he wasn't. _He must be._

"Well, what did you expect? A pack of Crayola crayons?" I snorted.

"Yeah." He chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Are you kidding me!? You thought I could draw something with only a few Kindergarten-quality crayons!?" I demanded, horrified by the ridiculously high expectation.

"Well, yeah. Can't you?"

 _Such naïveté._

"No!" I cried incredulously. _Who the hell can draw a decent eye with Crayola crayons!?_

"Why not?" He asked, utterly confused.

"Because they're awful quality! Blending them is basically Mission: Impossible." I'd had this exact discussion with Olivia before and told her the same thing, and she'd given me the same dumbfounded expression as Raphael.

"How can pencil crayons be bad quality? Aren't they all the same?"

"No! Good art pencils feel nicer to draw with. It's smoother and softer and easier to blend and they have much better color." I knew it was a hopeless cause; trying to make a non-artist understand that different pencil qualities are actually a thing.

"That makes no sense," he mumbled. My eyes lit up with an idea.

"Can you fight with wooden sai?" I asked smugly. He scoffed.

"No."

"Exactly! That's what it's like to draw with Crayola." He frowned and opened his mouth to argue but found nothing to say in his favour. I grinned up at him triumphantly.

"I can't believe you just compared crayons to sai," he muttered, but I just shrugged happily.

"Well, I _am_ full of surprises." He murmured something in a low voice.

"What?" I questioned, unable to discern his words. For a nanosecond, Raphael's eyes widened in horror. Though he was swift to recollect himself and mask it with an eye roll.

"Nothing," he said. But I knew what I saw, and I saw that sudden fear you experience when you realize that everyone within a twenty foot radius can hear you singing to a song playing through your headphones. And I could _not_ be told I'd seen otherwise, because I'd seen that kind of fear a _lot_ in New York City.

"Nothing my ass," I snapped. "What did you say?"

"I didn't say anything," he protested weakly.

"You are _so_ bad at lying." I shook my head. When he neglected to say anything, I tried to shove him into the slimy wall of the sewer tunnel but only succeeded in making him stumble a bit and chuckle at my wasted attempt.

"Come _on_ ," I whined. "Just tell me."

"All I said was that you're crazy." Raph admitted.

"Oh," it took a few moments for the meaning of his words to sink in, "hey!" He laughed when I shoved him again.

"That took you a while to pick up on."

"Go away," I laughed, dropping my hands into the pockets of my jacket.

We walked in a comfortable silence only interrupted by the echoes of inconsistent drips of water and the occasional patter of probably rat paws in shallow sewage. Any indications of the comings and goings above us were nonexistent. The noises of vehicles in traffic, chatting voices and hurried footsteps were trapped above the layer of cement separating this world from theirs. _My_ world. _**Our**_ world. I couldn't help but feel like I'd at last found my place. That I discovered where I belonged, where I fit in. Everything just felt _right,_ even the mutant beside me.

I bit my lip to keep myself from grinning so big I'd break my face. Raphael noticed my odd expression and looked down at me in amusement.

"What?" Everything. Nothing. Everything and nothing.

I shrugged. "Just happy." _That definitely qualifies as the understatement of the year._ He shook his head with a chuckle.

"You're weird."

"Yeah," I smiled happily. "I know."

 **AN: Writing this reminded me of the first time I went to the US and the first time I heard someone pronounce crayon like cray-un, which I thought was super weird because everyone I know in Canada says it like cray-on. I just, idk, I thought it was really weird and I still can't get over it. Americans are strange lol.**

 **Someone in my school had a duck in their backpack today and someone put it on Snapchat so the principal and counsellors were running around, pulling kids out of class and asking them if they had the duck ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯ so I guess Canada can be pretty strange too lmao.**

 **ANYWAYS I had lots of fun writing this chapter and I hope you guys like it :)**

 **I can't send any messages to reply to the comments my guest readers make so just letting all you guys know that I'm super grateful and I love ya!**

 **So to reply to I Am Lord Voldimort's question: yes she does and it's gonna be awesome! I'm super excited! Buuuut I have it planned for around the beginning of the second book. Sorry that you'll have to wait so long, but it'll be worth it! I also love your reviews and really appreciate hearing from you :D thanks!**


	36. 35 Ninja Training

_"Sutoppu!"_ I almost fell over when I didn't follow through with my side kick, but managed to steady myself and turn slightly to face Splinter. It was too difficult to mask my heavy breathing, so I didn't.

"Your making very good progress, Raiya. Much better than I'd assumed you would. Your memories appear to be of great help to you and will allow your training to progress much faster than the brothers', which means you will be able to choose a weapon soon." I grinned excitedly, my chest and shoulders still rising and falling rapidly with my breaths.

"You've done well today, we'll continue tomorrow." I nodded and bowed, only stepping off the podium once he'd retreated to his room.

"What kinda weapon are ya gonna choose?" I turned to see Raphael walking in from his room.

 _You're shitting me._

"Were you watching me?" I asked, still a bit breathless.

"'Course I was, what else am I supposed to do down here?" I crossed my arms.

"That's rude, you know. And a violation of my privacy."

Raph snorted. "If you're so concerned about us ogling you then maybe you should wear something else."

I looked down at my white tank top that was more askew than appropriate during an intensive training session, showing part of my bra and quite a bit of cleavage. Okay, I _may_ have forgotten to wear a sports bra, but I couldn't help that my memory was worse than a goldfish's! I hastily straightened my shirt in embarrassment.

 _Poor Master Splinter! I could've been flashing him the whole time and not know it!_

"Okay, In my defence I _did_ bring a jacket, but I couldn't exactly train in it." I retorted in annoyance. My leather jacket—along with my backpack—laid discarded on the corner of Raph's bed, but I was too hot to go put it on now. Raph rolled his eyes and went to the weapons wall. My curiosity got the better of me and I followed him over.

The wall held an assortment of knives, daggers, metal star-shaped things, swords, nunchucks, staffs, sai, pickaxe-looking things, small maces, batons and things connected with chains. There were so many items, I just couldn't take them all in. I knew that I knew what all these weapons were called, but the names were floating somewhere in the mysterious ocean in the back of my mind.

"Do you know how to use all of these?" I asked in awe.

"Yeah, but not very well."

"Really!?" _I can barely shoot a basketball._ He nodded and grabbed a small knife from the wall. It had a long, flat blade and a leather wrapped handle with a ring on the pommel.

"Know what this is?" He asked, holding it up.

"A throwing knife?" I guessed a little hesitantly.

"Sorta, yeah. It's called a kunai." I gasped as the word echoed through my mind and sent me to a place of rolling green hills and sunny warmth.

 _This is a kunai._ The blade buried itself into a wooden pillar with a satisfying thud. The wind blew across my face, smelling of horse manure and cherry blossoms.

"Raiy?" I blinked a few times, my world coming back into focus.

"Sorry, I was pulled into one of my ancestral memories when you said that." He grinned devilishly, reminding me of Mikey when he agreed to help me pull that stunt on Leo not long ago.

"Throw it." I recoiled in surprise.

"You're kidding, right?" He flipped the knife in his hand so he was holding the blade, then held it out to me expectantly.

"Who do you think I am!?" I demanded, "Lee Christmas!?"

"Who the hell is that?" I groaned in frustration.

"Add that to the list of movies to watch. God, you guys make it _impossible_ to reference _anything_." I crossed my arms, refusing to take the kunai from him.

"What?" He asked in a teasing tone. "Are you _afraid?_ " I narrowed my eyes at him.

"No." I scoffed, swiping the knife from his outstretched hand. It felt weird in my hand, alien and cold.

"Alright," Raph gestured to a round, wooden target hanging on the wall with only a black circle in the middle. "Throw it." I stepped up onto the dais and squared myself with my target, as Sensei always told me to do.

 _How do I do this?_ I closed my eyes, trying to bring forth the memories I knew I had.

 _Kunai...kunai...kunai...Where are you? I know you're here somewhere..._

I flew through memories. Flashes of colour, smells, sensations and noises all melded together into a rushing stream. I kept searching. I knew it was there.

 _Kunai...kunai...kunai...kunai...There!_ I stood before three wooden targets. One kunai held loosely in my right hand and two more in my left, warm and familiar.

 _"Hajime!"_ I masculine voice barked from behind me. There was no hesitation when I drew my arm back and whipped my first knife forward. I didn't check to see where it landed, I just grabbed my next kunai and threw them in the same manner.

"Holy shit." The familiar voice of Raphael shook me from my reverie. I was about to ask what he was so surprise about, but then I realized that the kunai that was once in my hand was now embedded in the centre of the wooden target.

"Woah," I laughed. _Did I do that?_

"How did you do that?" He asked, completely dumbfounded.

 _Was it awesome?_ Judging by the look on his face, it must've been. _Hell yeah!_

"I have _no_ freakin clue, but _damn_ I'm impressed with myself! Up top!" I held my hand up for a high-five. Raphael seemed to be only half aware of raising his own hand in response. I enthusiastically slapped his palm, then went to retrieve the knife.

 _Oh if only I could've seen myself do that!_ I wrenched the kunai from the wood, stumbling back a little from the force.

"I need to do that again!" I turned and almost ran right into him.

"Woah!" Raphael grabbed my shoulders to stop me from ramming into him. "Don't run with knives!"

"Well don't get in my way." I shot back, shrugging off his grip and jumping back onto the dais. This time, I was aware of all my movements. I lifted my arm so it was parallel with the ground and pointed toward the target, then pulled my throwing hand back over my shoulder. Muscle memory immediately kicked in and my arm snapped forward, releasing the blade at a forty-five degree angle. The kunai rocketed into the wooden target again, only a few millimetres shy of the centre.

"Gurl how do you know how to do that!?" I turned to the source of the voice, finding Mikey standing in the doorway of their bedroom, totally blown away.

"Ancestral muscle memories," I announced, shooting Raphael a triumphant grin, "cool, huh?" He grunted and went to retrieve the knife.

"Yeah! You're better at that than me!" Mikey hopped over and held out his fist.

"Really!? That's sick!" I fist bumped him and turned back to Raphael, who held a short sword out to me. _Tantō,_ my mind whispered. I grinned and took it from him, twirling it in my hand without a thought. My mind was flooded with sword fighting techniques I knew my body was capable of carrying out.

I felt a movement above me and I stepped back to thrust my blade up, meeting Raphael's katana with a clang. I smirked at him and took a stride backwards, keeping my tantō at the ready.

Raphael toyed with me. Any force behind his simple attacks were weak, and it wasn't due to the unfamiliarity of wielding a katana. He was as capabale with it as I was with was my blade. Mikey sat excitedly on the sidelines as if he were watching an actual Jedi duel. I was unsure if anyone else watched, but I could care less. My focus was on analyzing Raphael's every move, ensuring I knew how to react to his attacks before he even struck. The caution he exercised with me was frustrating, but I knew it was to ensure I wouldn't get an arm hacked off or anything, so I grudgingly appreciated it. But seriously, was it _really_ necessary for him to swing his katana at me _that_ slow?

"Come on, Raph," I said, taking a quick step toward him, "kick it up a notch." To prove I meant it, I swung my tantō up with more force than usual. Immediately, he caught the blade with his own, as if he'd known my intentions all along.

He smirked. "You sure you can handle it?" Techniques flashed through my mind and my body hummed with energy.

I grinned. "Try me." Raphael stepped closer, pressing harder against our locked blades. _Damn, he's strong!_ Unable to handle the force, I stepped back and dropped my tantō long enough for him to lunge forward. I managed to quickly spin out of the way and swing at him while he was turned away. His katana moved with ridiculous speed and parried all my attacks, and soon _I_ was the one playing defence.

It was exhilarating and challenging, but for as well as I could wield the tantō, I soon discovered it wasn't for me.

The duel ended with the blade of a katana at my throat and the smirking face of a triumphant turtle right in front of me. Mikey clapped loudly.

"Encore!" He called. I grinned over at him, then turned to meet Raphael's intense gaze.

"Rematch?" I asked hopefully. "I wanna try out some other weapons." He lowered his blade and took a step back, allowing me space to breath.

"Sure, I've got some ideas."

 **AN: Aaaaaand I'm gonna update on Thursdays now cuz Wednesdays are about to get real crazy for me lol.**

 **I** ** _love_** **Jason Statham in The Expendables cuz he's sick with all his knives so I decided to throw in some kunai stuff.**

 **I also have this idea in my head that once Raiya's training progresses more, her and Raph are gonna be like the ultimate / cutest sparring partners eveerrrrr which is gonna be super fun to write about and I literally cannot wait! And I know their relationship is kinda really frustrating right now. I want them to kiss as much as you guys do lol. But I don't wanna rush right into that stuff cuz I really don't want my story to be one of those immediate 'omg I love you' scenarios, so just hold in there cuz I want to make his as real as possible and real relationships are super hard work and take a loooong time to progress.**

 **AND MY REVIEWERS.**

 **HOLY MOLY.**

 **YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! THANK YOU!**


	37. 36 Reconciliation

After trying out a bunch of there weapons—including sai—I deemed myself too tired and too annoyed with getting beat by Raphael every time, so I laid on the ground.

"Raiya." I groaned and turned away from his voice.

"Nooooo, I'm too tired! No more weapons or fighting, my brain hurts."

"Well don't lay in the middle of the training room," he pointed out drily. In reply, I flipped onto my stomach defiantly.

"I will move you if you don't move yourself." I _almost_ moved, but then I thought about the probability of him following through with his threat and decided to remain where I was.

"You wouldn't," I corrected.

"I will," He challenged. I didn't move until I heard him take a step toward me, then I rolled away and onto my back to glare up at him.

"Don't you dare." I pointed a finger up at him in warning.

"Alright fine, but get up. Leo wants to talk to you." I closed my eyes with a heavy sigh, not really wanting to deal with him right now.

"Okay. Where is he?"

"Living room." Raph extended a hand down to me. Gratefully, I took it and he pulled me to my feet. "Don't kill him," he said in a low voice. I rolled my eyes.

"Only if he gives me a decent reason not to." Leaving him in the training room, I walked through their bedroom on my way to Leo so I could grab my jacket off of Raphael's bed. Donnie was laying on his mattress, completely absorbed in the astronomy book I gave him two nights ago. I would've said hi if I hadn't recognized the expression on his face. He was in the zone, and I knew better than to interrupt.

I pulled my jacket on as I entered the living room. Leo turned on the couch as soon as I walked in, making me pause in my tracks and stare at him, not knowing what to say. I offered him a hesitant smile that he didn't really deserve.

"Hey."

He suddenly went into total panic mode and rushed forward to inspect me.

"Are you okay? Did you get hurt?" I recoiled and tried to wriggle out of his grasp.

"Leo. Leo stop! What are you talking about?" He released me, allowing me to see the hurt flash across his face

"The Footclan," he said, "they attacked you, don't you remember?" I rolled my eyes.

"Of course I remember, but it's a bit late to be concerned now, don't you think?" He hung his head with a sigh.

"Yeah, I know it is. I just never got a chance to ask you because–"

"You were busy being an ass and arguing with Raph," I snapped. It was unnecessary, but he needed to know that I was pissed and that he couldn't treat me like shit and expect zero consequences for it.

"Yeah." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I'm really sorry about how I acted that night, I was just mad that you got hurt and nobody was there to protect you. And I blamed Raph for that, which was wrong, I know. I just... I don't want anything to happen to you." I held back a groan.

 _These damn boys and their worry over me is getting a little ridiculous._

"Leo, it's not like something isn't going to happen to me. I probably _will_ get hurt at some point, but just because that could happen while I'm friends with you guys doesn't mean it's your fault. I'm actually pretty good at defending myself too, just not against a whole army of Japanese guys."

"I know," he agreed quietly. "...I just can't stop thinking about what Raph said about how I dragged you into this life."

 _Ugh, Raph. Why did you have to say that?_

"Leo," I murmured. " _I'm_ the one who drove myself crazy trying to find you, not you. And thank God I did, I don't know what else I would have done without you guys." I shook my head and laughed. "I'm three weeks into summer vacation and it's already the best summer I've ever had... Just, know that if you're like that to me again and Donnie isn't around to restrain me, I _will_ knock some sense into you. Got it?" He grinned, the Leo I knew so well finally shining through.

"Yeah. Thanks, Raiy." I pulled him into a hug.

"No problem."

"Hey, what happened between you and Raph?" He asked, pulling away after a few moments.

"Oh, we talked. We're good now." He raised a brow questioningly.

"I think 'good' is a bit of an understatement." He gave me a pointed look and I felt my face start to heat up.

"Uh, I...I have to go draw Mikey," I stuttered, taking a step backward and bumping into the couch, making him laugh. "Shut up." I tried to sound serious, but my grin gave away my amusement. I opened my mouth to call for Mikey as I left the living room, but he was already sitting in his bed cross-legged and bouncing with impatience. He grinned excitedly at me and held up my sketchbook.

 _Shit_.

"You're _really_ good," he gushed.

"Thanks." I smiled despite my annoyance. Snooping must run in the turtles' family.

"When did you draw Raph?" Donnie shot up in his bed to stare at me wide-eyed, suddenly aware of the world around him.

"Uhm, yesterday," I admitted quietly.

"He was at your place yesterday? Huh, I don't remember him ever leaving the lair." Mikey looked closer at the drawing.

"He wasn't," I said, hopping onto Raph's bed and digging through my bag for art supplies.

"Gurl you drew this from _memory!?_ " He exclaimed.

"Yeah." I ducked my face down from my growing embarrassment.

"That's so cool! Hey Raph! Come check this out!" I looked up in horror to see Mikey wave him over.

 _Oh my god. This can't get any worse._

"What?" Raphael strode in from the training room, glistening with sweat that highlighted every curve of his muscled arms and plastron.

 _The abs. Dear Lord, the abs._ He glanced over, catching me staring at him. He smirked and I quickly dropped my gaze, cheeks flushed. _Scratch that, it definitely_ can _get worse._

"Check this out, bro. She drew you from memory." Mikey thrust my sketchbook out toward him.

"What's going on?" Leo strode in from the living room looking _very_ curious.

 _Great_.

"This!" Mikey turned the drawing so he could see. Leonardo first glanced at the open sketchbook, then at me with a raised brow. My face burned, making me want to die on the spot.

"When did you do _that?_ " Leo asked, clearly trying to humiliate me further. I threw my hands up, exasperated with the show Leo was trying to put on for everyone, with the main attraction being me dying of embarrassment.

"Yesterday," I said boldly, refusing to give him the satisfaction of seeing me embarrassed.

"With your Alzheimer-infected memory?" He continued.

"Yes, Leo. I drew Raph from memory." I snapped, holding my hand out for my sketchbook. "Are you jealous?" I demanded. Mikey—grinning hugely—handed it to me. I smiled at him, then turned back to Leo expectantly. His blue eyes sparked with mischievous electricity.

"Not at all," he said innocently. Dropping into his own bed, he leaned back and made himself comfortable. I shot him an odd look, unable to discern what his intentions were, but I pushed that thought away and flipped the page in my book to a new one. I glanced up at Mikey and held a pencil above the paper, poised to draw. I jumped at Raphael's laughter, completely forgetting that he was there the whole time.

"Looks like you guys are cool now," he said amusedly, and left. I sighed, pressing my eyes shut and running my fingers through my wavy hair to get it out of my face. I smiled up at the young turtle in front of me.

"Okay Mikey, just try to keep the same facial expression."

 **AN: Apologies for the short chapter! The next few updates are gonna be fun lil fillers (which actually all take place on the same day) before we get into the action again, which is cool cuz I absolutely LOVE writing these things, Mikey is just such a fun character.**

 **I get this weird feeling whenever I write that we're nearing the end of TSS AND IT MAKES ME SO SAD. I really don't have an estimate on how many more chapters there'll be, but it's gonna follow the movie's plot fairly accurately and we already had the dock scene so the subway scene is soon and from there we basically just dive headfirst into back-to-back action scenes which I'm kinda nervous for cuz I'm really not the greatest action scene writer lmao sorry in advance guys.**

 **I'm also super excited to start writing scenes that are gonna be in the sequel, I've already begun to plan a bunch lol. If you guys want a little sneak peak, I could drop a few lines of dialogue or something I have in my head... maybe one of the new characters or the title idk, just lemme know in the comments!**


	38. 37 The More You Know

"Hey, Mikey?"

"Yeah RaiyRaiy?" I smiled as I added shading to areas on his face.

"How'd you get that scar on your chin?" I asked without looking up from my work. Leo snorted at my question from his place in his own bed beside me, hands fiddling with a Rubik's Cube.

"A cat attacked me," Mikey said. I choked on a laugh and lifted my pencil off the paper, not trusting myself to draw in this state.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah! Donnie and I were setting up security cameras outside the lair and we found this cat stuck in a rat trap. Donnie disabled the trap and when it got free it pounced on me, then ran off. _Man_ was that cat ever mad! " He ran a thumb over the scar and shrugged. "Makes me look tough though." I nodded in agreement.

" _Very_." Mikey grinned and leaned across the gap separating the two beds we sat on.

"How's it goin?" I flipped my sketchbook shut before he could see, making him sit back with a pout on his face.

"Why can't I see it?" He whined.

"Because," I said simply, "I'm not finished yet."

"Well when _will_ you be finished?" He asked, flopping onto his back tiredly. I glanced over at Leo and we shared an eye roll.

"I dunno, but I need to see your face," I laughed. He sat up in confusion.

"How come you drew Raph without having to see _his_ face?" I froze, both Mikey's and Leo's eyes falling on me. Feeling a blush creep up my cheeks, I quickly looked down and began to draw again.

"I... I guess because I saw him a lot throughout the day I remembered his face easier."

"Oh... That makes sense." He nodded in agreement. We remained silent for a few minutes, the only sounds being the scratching of my pencil and the clicks of Leo's handheld puzzle.

"Okay," I said at last, causing Mikey to glance up hopefully. I looked down at the drawing in satisfaction, then traded my pencils out for coloured ones. "Now for the eyes." He tilted his head back and groaned.

"When does this _end!?_ " He cried.

"Mikey," Leo chuckled. "This isn't torture, you know. You've been wanting Raiya to draw you forever."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would _take_ five years," he argued, crossing his arms. I rolled my wrist in an attempt to rid it of building aches and stiffness.

"Don't worry, it won't take much longer to finish. I just need to look at your eyes." I leaned forward to inspect them, only to find them barren of their usual joyful shine.

"How 'bout you tell a story?" I offered. Mikey practically leaped with joy.

"Oh, which one!? There's so many! Do you wanna hear about the time I hid one of Donnie's science books and he couldn't find it for two months? Or about how Raph dared Leo to follow Sensei above ground when we were little? Oh! Or the time when me and Raph tried tattooing Donnie in his sleep!?" He exploded with laughter at that last one, making Leo chuckle and shake his head as well.

"Huh? What about me sleeping?" Donnie asked, looking up from my mother's astronomy book he was reading in his bed.

"Remember when me and Raph tried giving you a tattoo when you were asleep?" Mikey repeated once he'd calmed down.

"That was _not_ funny," he muttered and I grinned.

"Yeah, tell me about your guys' tattoos. How'd you get them?"

"Oh, well Raph dips his torture stick in black ink and stabs us with it a million times. It really hurts and it takes forever," Mikey explained. My jaw dropped and I look up from colouring.

"He _what!?_ "

"Mikey," Leo laughed, "It's not a torture stick. It's a traditional Japanese inking method called tebori irezumi, it _literally_ means hand-carved tattoo. It involves dipping a long stick with a bunch of tiny metal needles on the end into ink and, well jabbing it into your skin a million times. It's really good for increasing pain tolerance," Leo explained, his hands still working on the Rubik's Cube. I relaxed enough to continue my work but grimaced at the thought,

"Why the hell would you ever _do_ that?" _It sounds worse than modern tattoo machines._ Mikey shrugged happily.

"I wanted a tatt."

"Bugged Sensei about it for _months,"_ Leo added.

"Yeah, he finally agreed to let me if one of us learned how to do it the traditional way. So Raph learned cuz he was really bored and was the only one of us who could draw anything better than a stick-man." I grinned.

"Really? Raph can draw?" _Why'd he never tell me?_ Mikey nodded.

"Well not as good as you, but he's not bad. He's good at anything artistic actually, even knitting." My pencil stopped moving in surprise.

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah!" _Raph can actually knit!?_ I bursted out laughing, unable to contain it.

"Raph... Raph _knits!?_ " When Mikey nodded vigorously I could only laugh harder. "Wh–why does he knit?" I breathed at last.

"Whenever he gets in trouble Sensei makes him knit, so he had to teach himself how to. And now he's _really_ good at it cuz he gets in trouble _all_ the time," he laughed.

"Really?"

"Yeah, once we were in the ha'shi for so long he almost made a blanket."

"Holy shit, what'd you guys do?" I noticed Leo stiffen, his hands hesitating on his puzzle cube.

"Uh, we stole headphones from somebody above ground," Mikey admitted sheepishly. "But we gave them back! I swear!"

"That doesn't sound bad enough for you guys to be in the ha'shi long enough for Raph to knit a blanket," I said, knowing there was more to the story than Mikey was telling me. Leo sighed and turned toward me to explain.

"The guy we stole them from saw Raph's hand so he freaked out and somehow managed to take a picture, then he called the police but they mustn't have believed him. We thought we were in the clear when he got dragged off by the police, but a few hours later a bunch of Area Fifty-One guys showed up in the sewers trying to find us. Donnie managed to make this serum that confused one of the men and we gave him the headphones and an arm prop we made to look kind of like Raph's arm. We told him that it was just some kid fooling around and he was so out of it he bought it and told the rest of the group and they left. Then Sensei put us in the ha'shi for so long we lost track of time." Mikey nodded as he tugged absentmindedly on his orange mask tails.

"I've been wondering what Raph meant when he said Area Fifty-One guys during that argument," I murmured, finally understanding. "That guy saw you, didn't he?" Mikey winced almost unnoticeably, but I still caught it.

"Yeah, he did. The worst part was he didn't even scream, or call us freaks like the one we stole from did. He just stared at us and kept on saying how we'd be perfect specimens and that the world would finally know real monsters," Leo said quietly. I bit my lip, not knowing what to say or do. So I looked down and quickly finished my work.

"Okay, how does it look?" I asked, holding the drawing up. Mikey's face lit up with joy and he took my sketchbook from me with a gasp.

"This is incredible!" He cried, then thrust it into Leo's face. "Look! It looks just like me!" Then he turned it back to him so he could inspect it closer. "My eyes are so cool!" _Then_ he tackled me in a hug. "Thankyouthankyouthankyou _thankyou!_ " I laughed and hugged him back.

"No problem, Mikey." _Jeez, I didn't think he'd get this excited over a drawing._ He ran off excitedly to show his other brothers and I couldn't help but grin at his antics. I caught Leo's gaze and he smiled gratefully at me, as if saying thank you as well.

 **AN: Not really sure how I feel about this chapter.**

 **I legit have no clue how the turtles actually got their tattoos, I just did some really light research on tebori irezumi and thought it was cool so I threw it in here lol. I'm also thinking that a scene with Raph giving Raiya a tattoo would be really funny and I really wanna write it the more I think about it, so that's a possibility. Not soon though, probably like the end of TSS or somewhere in the sequel.**

 **Anyways, please leave me some reviews! Love you guys!**


	39. 38 COD

Revenge of the Sith faded from the tv screens, signalling it's end. Leo—still excited all his predications were true—grinned hugely at me in an _I-knew-it_ way. Mikey stared at the monitors in shock as the credits began to roll.

"I can't believe he killed Padmé and turned bad." He whirled around to face me. _"Why is that one your favourite!?"_ He demanded, making me grin.

"Because it's so dramatic and so many things happen and after you're like _holy shit, I need to watch that again._ Plus, the end scene with Obi-Wan and Anakin is awesome. It's the longest duel in any live-action movie _ever_. Cool, right?" I caught Raph rolling his eyes from the beanbag on the floor, and Mikey wrinkled his nose.

"You sound like Donnie."

 _"Hey!"_ He yelled from his bed where he continued to read my astronomy book. I crossed my arms.

"If I were Donnie, I would have graduated high school when I was twelve," I argued. _Instead, I was too busy failing._ Leo laughed and nodded in agreement.

"When _do_ you graduate?" Mikey asked.

"If I don't fail, it'll be another three years," I sighed. I was so close, but it felt so far away.

"Oh, that's not that bad." He smiled brightly and I envied his positivity. "Hey, Don! Can you invent something that can turn me human so I can go to school too?"

 _You'd only be that excited for the first week. Come the following Monday you'll want to die._ I didn't want to crush his spirit though, so I let him be excited and fantasize about how perfect school is.

"Uh huh," Donnie agreed absentmindedly, as if he dealt with his brother's invention prompts all the time.

"Thanks, D! Alright," he rubbed his hands together and leaned forward on the couch beside me, "let's play some CoD!"

"You sure you wanna have your ass kicked again, li'l bro?" Raph teased.

He shrugged. "I have Raiya this time."

"Hey, what about me?" Leo asked, realizing he'd just been replaced by me. Mikey grimaced.

"Uh, you can go on Raph's team." Raphael seemed unfazed by this as he tossed everyone a controller and set up the game.

"Which one are we playing?" I asked.

"Two, it's the only one we have."

 _Nice! That one's my favourite._ "Alright, you guys are in for it."

Mikey and I exchanged evil grins and I leaned back into the corner of the couch, locked and loaded for some ass-kicking. I quickly made a class for myself before we added some bots, chose our map, and began the game. Mikey and I spawned next to each other, with our trio of bots behind us. They raced off into the wasteland in front of us, but I crouched and waited. A skull flashed on my screen, indicating the direction in which one of my teammates was killed. I ran over and killed the other team member.

"Hey!" Leo cried. "Who killed me!?" I grinned and ran to the next skull indicator before it could disappear. Mikey eventually noticed my sneaky technique, and ran off to do the same thing. But no sooner did he leave me than I was suddenly killed. The killcam that played after was through a sniper's scope. Recognizing the angle the shot was taken from, I identified the location of the shooter and ran around, looking for a bot with an RPG. When I found him, I took the launcher from his corpse and fired it at the tower Raph was camping out in. I spared a glance over at him, unable to resist seeing the look of shock on his face.

"Weren't expecting that, huh Raphie?" I asked sweetly.

"Oh you're gonna pay for that," Raph promised.

Mikey laughed. "She's unleashed the _beast!_ "

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Mikey get off!" I cried, seeing his character standing on the huge turbine in the middle of the landscape. He couldn't have been a better target if he was firing flares off and waving a flag saying 'SHOOT ME'. I glanced at Raph's screen, trying to figure out where he was through his gun's scope. The time remaining in the match read thirty seconds, and if we didn't get another point, we'd lose. Mikey hopped off the pipe just as he came into view on Raph's screen.

I elbowed him and hissed. "Don't die, we have to win."

"I know, but I thought I saw a dog."

 _Is he serious!?_

"Unless one of us has a K-9 Unit scorestreak, there are no dogs in this!" I quickly checked all the sniper spots through my gun's scope, but found nothing. Raph's screen was black, telling me he'd suspected what I'd done and hid from any windows to press himself into a wall, rendering my screen-peaking useless.

"Got us a UAV!" Mikey announced. I checked my minimap immediately and ran toward the only red dot that was along the perimeter of the map. Raphael cursed and ran from the tower he was in.

"Mikey he's coming your way," I whispered, hucking a flashbang as far ahead of me as I could. There was an explosion and Raph's screen flashed white while he tried to switch his gun to a pistol for better close-range shooting. Mikey yelled in surprise and started emptying his whole clip on him, without aiming once through his sight. I was about to kill him for not hitting Raph at all, but then the match ended, telling us we'd tied.

"Mikey!" I cried, "You did it!"

"Yeah! _And_ I got the final killcam! Look!" I turned to see a replay of Mikey shooting at everything _but_ the disoriented person in front of him, until a few shots managed to hit him in his groin.

"Aw yeah! Nut shot!" He cheered. We laughed and high-fived enthusiastically. Raphael's jaw was clenched as he stared at the screen.

"You guys wanna rematch?" I asked.

"Only if we get Mikey," Leo muttered. Raph seemed to perk up at the mention of redeeming himself and getting revenge on me. Mikey rubbed his hands together and laughed evilly.

"Let's do it!"

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Guys," I laughed," come on, I just got lucky."

"Three times in a row?" Mikey pouted, arms crossed and turned away from me on the couch. Okay, _maybe_ I should've gone easier on them, but I just couldn't help it!

"I'm goin' on your team next time," Leo said, shaking his head. "You killed me at _least_ twenty times." I grinned.

 _Thirty four, but close enough._ Raph stared at me.

"How much do you play that?" I shrugged.

"Olivia and I play it all the time because it's the best game we have where we can play on the same team." I smiled sheepishly. "She got too annoyed with me winning all the time, so we just kill bots."

"I wonder why," Mikey muttered. I laughed and elbowed him lightly.

"I'll teach you my ways sometime. Once you become worthy." He grinned excitedly as if I'd just offered him world-renowned pizza.

"Deal, but I'm done being killed for today."

 _Fair enough._ "Okay, what are we gonna do then?"

The youngest turtle hummed to himself as he tried to decide.

"Uhmmmmmm... Oh! How about you get a tattoo!?" Leo shook his head and Raph shot him an incredulous look the younger turtle took zero notice of.

"Are you crazy?" I asked. "There's no _way_ I have that kind of pain tolerance. Plus, Olivia would kill me if I came home with a tattoo."

"That's why you get a small one in some place she'll never see," he stated. I glanced at Raphael, unable to decide if Mikey was serious or not. The red masked turtle looked about as clueless yet horrified as I was.

"Mikey, I'm not sure I want Raph stabbing me with his 'torture stick', in places even Olivia doesn't see." The mere thought of it had my heart thundering and my body tingling with anticipation, making me question what I really _did_ want. Leo choked on a laugh, then quickly covered it up with a cough. Mikey finally seemed to clue in, realizing his idea wasn't exactly a good one.

"Oh yeeaaah, good point... Okay, new idea!"

 **AN: I am ruthless when it comes to COD lmao**

 **Another short chapter I know! I'm sorry! I promise the next one will be longer and less boring because I have the CUTEST shit planned within the next few chapters, you have no idea XD**

 **Anyways, TSS is starting to feel like it's entering the movie plot super fast now, which makes me sad because there's so much I still want to happen and it feels like I'm running out of time lol. Like you guys I WANT THEM TO KISS SO BADDD BUT I WANT TO SAVE IT FOR THE IDEAL MOMENT AND ITS SO HARD. I** ** _will_** **say that they'll for sure kiss before the end of TSS, but I honestly have no idea when loolll sorry guys but it totally be worth the wait so don't worry.**

 **Also, if anyone is a Star Wars fan I've started planning a fanfic based off the movies and set one year before Rogue One. It's called Operation: Silver Dawn. The main character is basically like Saw Gerrera's adopted daughter and she's sent on a mission to Lothal at the same time Cassian relocates to the same place with a similar mission. They run into each other and end up working together and possibly falling in love (I haven't decided on that part yet). So yeah, if anyone would be interested in reading it, let me know!**


	40. 39 Pictionary

"Is it an apple?" Leo asked hesitantly, trying to determine what exactly Mikey was drawing.

"A blob? Or an orange?"

"A flat ball!" I called desperately. "Or a puddle?" Mikey added a large, enlongated protrusion to the top of his round-ish drawing. In his excitement, Donnie almost jumped up off the couch beside me.

"Oh! It's an amoeba!" His younger brother spun around and threw a whiteboard marker at him.

"Dude!" He cried in horror, "how _dare_ you!?"

"Mikey, you don't even know what an amoeba is," Raphael groaned.

"And you do?" I asked, partly impressed and partly disbelieving. His mouth opened and closed as he tried to form an answer, but that was the only proof I needed to know that he was clueless.

"Oh it's a _bird!_ " Leo exclaimed. We all whirled toward the whiteboard in anticipation.

"What _kind_ of bird?" Mikey asked slyly. And everyone started yelling over each other.

"A pigeon!"

"A crow! Oh, or a raven!"

"A duck!"

"Goose!"

"It's a turkey!"

"A rooster?"

"A CHICKEN!"

But these birds were too simple for Mikey's imagination. Plus, it's legs were way too–holy shit.

"AN OSTRICH!"

"YES!" In his excitement, Mikey drew three large circles around the worst drawing of an ostrich that's ever graced this planet. I threw my arms up in victory as the boys muttered and groaned among themselves.

"That makes it, what? Eight for me and three for you guys?"

"Can we find a game that you're _not_ good at?" Raph muttered, crossing his arms.

"Well I would tell you guys but it's actually a really long list, so I'd rather not."

"Technically speaking, ostriches have longer necks and legs than that, and a smaller head," Donnie interjected, causing Mikey to scoff.

"It's better than your frog!" We all shared a laugh at the reminder of Donnie's _very_ disproportionately drawn amphibian that resembled more a hyena than anything else, and when he added a long tongue from it's mouth we all assumed it was an unknown species of anteater.

"I really hate this game," Raph muttered.

"Why don't you take over for Mikey?" I offered, remembering what his brothers had told me earlier today about his decent ability to draw. I shot Mikey a look and he was immediately nodding his understanding.

"Yeah Raph, I wanna try and guess." He tossed the marker to him with a smile. Raphael sighed and got off his beanbag chair, allowing Mikey to take his spot. He lightly tapped the marker against the whiteboard propped up on the monitor's skatebaord-chair, thinking. Knowing Raph, he'd probably draw weapons or something violent. So I was ready and quick to recognize the slightly curved line he began with.

"Katana!" I called. All four brothers craned their heads around to stare at me in exasperation and surprise.

"Okay. I give up," Donnie announced, crossing his arms and propping his feet up on the pizza box table.

"Do something harder," Leo suggested. Raphael muttered something unintelligible and wiped away the blue marker to restart. I watched in interest as he used bold, confident strokes, angling the marker to get varying line thicknesses where needed, and even using the slightly drying ink as shading or lighter, less noticeable lines.

I was so caught up in the movements and techniques that I forgot about the game, allowing the brothers to guess correctly while I was still in a mesmerized haze.

"Lizard!" Donnie yelled.

 _Wait, what? I though he wasn't playing anymore!_

"Dragon!" Leo cried as Raph hastily added wings to the serpentine body. "Ha! I got it!" I shot an incredulous look to the brother sitting beside me.

"I thought you weren't playing!"

"Well, I wasn't but then I realized you were too busy drooling over my brother to guess anything." I glared at Donnie.

"I was not _drooling_ over anyone," I hissed in protest.

"Fine, you were moonstruck." I froze in horror, then tried my best to play it off like I had no idea what that word meant.

"Moonstruck?" I repeated in disbelief. "Are you kidding? That sounds like a word a toddler would make up to describe why dogs howl at the moon or something."

"That's a myth. Dogs don't howl at the moon." I rolled my eyes.

"Yeah, I _know_ that, I'm just -"

"Dudes, what the hell." We both turned to face the bewildered expressions of the three other turtles.

"What?" I asked innocently, hoping none of them knew what we'd been discussing.

"Let's focus on winning," Leo said to Donnie, then shot me a pointed look. I fought the rising heat in my cheeks and turned to face the small, cracked whiteboard a smirking Raphael stood beside. I forced myself to ignore him.

"Alright, just one more round, guys. I have to leave for flight training soon."

"Already?" Mikey whined.

"What do you mean _'already'_? I've been here for hours." I was snapped back to our game of pictionary when Leo and Donnie started yelling their guesses.

"A ball!"

"A pond!"

"A cactus!"

"A water droplet?"

"Oh it's a flame!" I declared. Raphael whirled around to glare at his brothers.

"What the hell, guys!? How does this look like a _water droplet_?" He demanded, tapping the drawing of a blue, flickering flame with the marker.

"Well it would've been easier if you used a red marker," Mikey muttered, arms crossed.

"Yeah, maybe if we _had_ a red marker, shell-brain."

"Hey!" Leonardo—sensing an imminent physical fight between the two and deciding separation would be the best solution—announced that Raphael would escort me to my uncle's hangar. While Donnie was giving him quick directions, I found my sketchbook—still open to my most recent drawing—laying on Mikey's bed. I called the youngest turtle over.

"Yeah RaiyRaiy?"

"Do you wanna keep this?" I asked, holding up the portrait of him.

"Heck yes! I'm gonna frame it and everything!"

"Okay," I laughed, carefully tearing out the paper for him. He took it from me with a huge smile.

"Thanks, and tell your uncle I say hi." I shook my head as he walked off to the jam room. Raph came over as I zipped my bag up and pulled it over my shoulders.

"You ready?" I nodded and followed him into the training room.

"You know where you're going?" He scoffed, reaching up to unlock the porthole door.

"Course I do." Raph gave me a leg up into the circular doorway, then climbed up after me and locked the door before heading off.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Okay, your turn." I looked up expectantly at the mutant strolling casually beside me down the sewer tunnel. Raphael pondered different questions for a while. His unusually long decision-making process was beginning to make me anxious by the time he finally spoke up.

"Why do you wanna be a pilot?" I blinked, not expecting such a simple question.

 _Actually... now that I think about it, I don't think anyone has ever asked me that before._

"Well... I never really _wanted_ to be one until I actually flew in a helicopter; and that's when I realized how much I loved being in the air and seeing everything so differently in such a big picture." He opened his mouth to inquire further but I cut him off.

"Hey! Only one question! It's my turn." Raphael grumbled something to himself and rolled his eyes.

"Why do you want to be a ninja?" I asked, trying my best to keep a straight face. He shot me an incredulous look that I responded to by raising an expecting eyebrow. Raph loosed a sigh before answering.

"I don't. I've never wanted to be one." I could feel my next question bubbling up my throat, and I had to keep my lips clamped tightly together to keep it from exploding out of me.

"What did you want to be before a pilot?" I shrugged.

"I dunno. Maybe a physics or science teacher or something involved with the environment or forensics."

"What's–"

"Hey! _My_ turn." I poked his side, making him swat my hand away. "Do you like being a ninja?"

"Sorta. I mean, it's cool and I like it I guess, but... there's no purpose. It's like when I'm mad at Leo so I go take it out on the punching bag, except I can't let off any steam. I can't just go to the surface and kick some Foot solider ass whenever I want. It's ten years of pent up rage I can't let loose." His hands clenched into fists. I bit my lip and nodded, then cracked a grin.

"Well just give me the word and I'll get myself caught up in another Footclan raid for you." His entire being relaxed, and I even caught a breath of soft laughter from him.

"Thanks, I'll consider your offer. Just don't tell Leo." I grinned.

"Gotcha." Raph titled his head back to look at a manhole cover above him. He stepped onto the ladder and reached up to nudge it out of the way and peek outside.

"Okay, you're good." He hopped off the ladder and landed in front of me. I met his smouldering gaze with a smile.

"Thanks for the escort," I said, patting his arm before stepping past him to grasp the ladder. "I'll see you tomorrow." And with that, I ascended into the world above.

 **AN: I've played pictionary in Spanish class and its so stressful XD**

 **HOPE YOU'RE ALL READY FOR SOME ACTIOOOON! Finally jumping back into the movie plot so that means we got the SUBWAY SCENE NEXT CHAPTER.**

 **So I'm gonna add an extended summary to the beginning of my story as soon as I can, because my author's note is not very good at reeling in more readers lol.**

 **Thank you guys so much for reviewing! I'd love to see some more, love y'all!**

 _ **For anyone waiting on the update for The Unsaveable Girl, it won't be up until tomorrow because I have CRAZY homework, sorry! The only reason this chapter is up is because it was already prewritten so all I had to do was upload it.**_


	41. 40 Trouble Magnet

"So how's the boy issue going?" Uncle Thomas asked, hopping out of the copilot seat. I laughed as I removed my helmet.

"Good, everything's resolved and going nicely." He came around to the side I stood on and leaned against the body of the helicopter.

"Have you told Olivia about it?"

"Yeah, actually. She was really excited when I mentioned anything about meeting a guy."

" _Multiple_ guys," he corrected. "I take it she gave you better advice than I did?" I lifted a brow questioningly.

"You gave me advice? I thought you just freaked out when I mentioned all four boys."

"Oh," he grimaced and scratched the back of his head, "I think you're right. Sorry, I meant to try and help you out but I must've been _really_ surprised." I shrugged and waved off his feelings of guilt.

"No worries, Liv helped me out. Although I'm kind of afraid that she'll demand to meet them because I haven't had friends in like, forever." Uncle Tom chuckled.

"Yeah, that seems like something she'd do." Then he suddenly turned solemn. "I know I'm probably not the greatest when it comes to giving advice, but if you ever need anything, I'll always be around to help," he offered and I nodded.

"I know, thanks." I smiled and rushed forward to hug him. Words pulled at my vocal cords, attempting to creep up my throat, but I swallowed the truth down. Now wasn't the time to tell him anything, nor was it ever; not unless I had no other choice.

"Do you need a ride home?" He asked, releasing his arms from around me. I shook my head and tucked strands of auburn hair behind my ear.

"I'm fine, thanks. I'll see you on..." I trailed off, realizing I _didn't_ know when I'd see him again for training.

"Saturday," he finished for me.

"Right," I grinned, beginning to make my way to the hangar's exit, "thank you!" I called, throwing a wave in his direction before jogging out.

God, I wanted to tell someone. Even if they didn't believe me, even if they called me crazy, I just wanted _someone_ to confide in. Telling the half truth to Olivia and Uncle Tom was _not_ enough. I was drowning in all this secrecy, and I wasn't sure when I would ever learn to stay afloat in it; to tread these waters.

••• 影の秘密 •••

 _"Won't you, come see about me?_

 _I'll be alone, dancing you know it baby._

 _Tell me, your troubles and doubts._

 _Giving me everything, inside and out. And, love's strange, so real in the dark._

 _Think of the tender things that we were working on._

 _Slow change, may pull us apart._

 _When the light gets into your heart, baby._

 _Don't you, forget about me._

 _Don't don't don't don't._

 _Don't you, forget about me."_ It was an effort to keep a straight face; to not sing, or bob my head, or hum. I mean, it's not like anyone would care if I did, but I didn't want to give people any reason to look at me anymore than they had to. So I kept my hands in my jacket pockets and my ear buds in, just to let everyone around me know that I didn't want to talk or be bothered. I preferred my music to the tumultuous noises around me anyways.

 _"Will you, stand above me?_

 _Look my way, never love me._

 _Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling._

 _Down, down, down._

 _Will you recognize me?_

 _Call my name, or walk on by._

 _Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling._

 _Down, down, down, down."_ It didn't even really feel like night, not with the darkness being chased away by neon LED signs, and lampposts that were completely unnecessary. The people were the same, if not a bit more sketchy, but just as loud as NYC's day-goers. I slithered may way in between groups of slow-moving people and sidestepped lost tourists without so much as a second thought. It was second nature to do such a thing.

 _"Don't you, try to pretend._

 _It's my feeling we'll win in the end._

 _I won't harm you or touch your defences._

 _Vanity and security."_ I was oblivious to the world, and to the commotion presented ahead until someone just about bulldozed me over in their blind panic to run from something behind them. I tugged one earbud out, and was instantly greeted with the terrified cries emanating from a subway entrance ahead. People streamed from the entrance like fish from the gaping maw of a shark.

And just like that, all thoughts in my mind froze except for one, echoing statement—the reason for all this panic: _The Footclan._ My fingers closed around the tracker in my jacket pocket, but I didn't press that button. Not yet. I had to confirm my suspicions first. For all I knew, it could've been a huge rat or some drunk idiot with a gun.

I rushed forward, weaving in between the gradually ebbing flow of men and women fleeing the subway. Inside, the subway station was the most empty, and quiet I'd ever seen it. Dull screams resonated from further within the station, and I hurried toward them without hesitation. As I made my way down a flight of stairs, I realized the extent of my drastically underdeveloped plan was to activate my tracker once I confirmed the Footclan was behind this.

 _Jeez, I'm gonna have to ask Donnie or Leo about strategy lessons sometime._ Ahead, I saw two men clad in the same black attire I'd seen two nights ago at the docks. The Foot soldiers were restraining two women and dragging them away, all the while snapping angry Japanese at each other and through comm units.

As I quickly reached a hand into my pocket for the tracker, a hand locked around my wrist. I cursed myself for not noticing my attacker earlier, and quickly spun on one foot, using the other to kick him off of me long enough to send a distress signal to the turtles. Then he was back and angrier than ever. I fought against him, but the second he pulled out a knife and pressed it against my throat, my limbs turned to lead. I could almost hear his voice reverberating through my ears again, making me shudder.

 _"What's yer name, girlie?"_ I felt so, so helpless with that knife sitting on my jugular; with years of that pent up fear finally springing forth and pinning me under it's paralyzing gaze.

 _It's stupid! Why are you so afraid of something so insignificant!? Get over it already!_ But it wasn't stupid when I was thirteen. In that moment almost three years ago, I'd never felt fear like that before. I'd actually thought I was going to die, or be sold as a... toy in Europe. That fear could never be diminished.

Cold cement met my body, sending harsh lances of pain up my arms—which took the brunt of the impact. I groaned and turned onto my side. I was surrounded by other people who appeared to have been thrown to the ground in a similar manner, all along the subway track like a lineup to an execution block, which was _exactly_ what it felt like. And even more people lined the wall opposite to us, with armed bombs stuck on the wall in between them. Footclan soldiers kept the more fidgety or loud people under control with a harsh Japanese word and a wave of their gun. The girl who had knocked me out a few nights ago stood in the middle of the fray, observing with an unsettling look of satisfaction. Though, she scanned the place like something was still missing.

"We know you're out there!" She yelled to nobody in particular. Her voice—sharpened to a deadly edge with it's authority—instantly quieted the fearful New Yorkers. "And if you don't surrender, we start executing hostages!" Cries of grief and fear arose from the captives around me, and it was with a horrified gasp that I realized they were trying to capture the turtles. And _I'd_ called for them; I'd given them exactly what they wanted.

 _Shit._

 **AN: WE'RE BACK INTO THE MOVIE PLOT YAYY. This chapter was kinda short :/ but don't worry, the next one should be better and more exciting because let's be honest, Leo is gonna be PISSED LOL. Also, I got some cute Raphaiya fluff planned sometime within the next few chapters, so that's gonna be hella cute ;)**

 **Please leave me some feedback!**


	42. 41 April O'Neil

The sound of a phone camera went off, shattering the deadly silence of the subway. The Footclan girl immediately turned toward the disturbance with her pistol drawn. I spun to follow her gaze, locking on someone behind me.

"You!" She barked, causing a pretty brunette to look up in surprise, her phone held up horizontally in front of her. "Stand up!" She ordered, walking closer toward the woman with her gun held before her. But the brunette remained laying on the floor in shock, her phone probably still recording the whole thing.

 _What the hell made her think recording this was a good idea!?_ I sighed in irritation and opened my mind to the swirling, ancient memories of my past before scrambling to my feet to put myself between the two women. The nearest soldier was impressively quick to respond, but I was faster and he was on his ass on the floor before he could land a hit on me.

The Footclan girl met my gaze with a knowing, evil smile, it was like she was _expecting_ me. Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she glanced between me and the fallen soldier. I smirked at some of the astonishment she was unable to keep from showing.

"Remember me, bitch?" Somehow, she remained both eerily calm and infuriated.

"Hai, Kaneko Emmalyn. You are a disgrace to your family's name."

 _How does this crazy-ass know my name!?_ My surprise was quickly replaced with white-hot, burning rage at the insult.

"And you're a twisted psychopath," I retorted in a sickly sweet voice. Her face contorted into an infuriated sneer as she raised her pistol and levelled it at my face.

"Since you are of no further use to us, I will enjoy killing you."

Despite the situation I'd just landed myself in, I wanted to burst out in laughter. _She literally just proved that my psychopath comment was totally right._ Just as I clued into the fact that this girl was literally going to shoot my brains out at any second, a deep voice I knew all too well rang out from down the subway tunnel.

 _"All aboard!"_ The Footclan instantly stiffened and the girl before me shouted a command in Japanese before all the lights went out. The subway was plunged into darkness as a train zoomed past our platform. People screamed and started running toward the exit, which consequently masked the sudden appearance of the four vigilantes shrouded in shadows.

I grinned and watched as they made quick work of the Foot soldiers. Something metallic clattered at my feet, and I looked down to find a short tantō blade.

 _I'll have to thank the guys later,_ I told myself as I picked it up, relieved to have a weapon in my hand, even though I wasn't sure if I could bring myself to kill anyone. Though, if thoroughly provoked I may be able to find it in me to kill that psychopathic Footclan girl, who was currently fleeing the scene desperately.

 _Next time,_ I promised myself, _next time I'll make her regret saying that about me._

I looked around and spotted the girl who'd almost been killed earlier, laying on the floor and still recording everything on that damn phone.

 _That's not good,_ I realized, my brain blasting warning alarms. _Nobody can know about the turtles._ As a Foot soldier ran by me, I shoved him toward the girl. They collided and went sprawling across the floor, the phone skidding in another direction. I sent a silent apology to the girl before kicking the device into the fast-moving train, where it fell to the tracks and was probably shattered to pieces by the wheels. Then, I tucked the tantō into an easily accessible pocket on my jacket and hurried over to finish dealing with the girl.

She was actually putting up a pretty decent fight. She was kicking her legs and thrashing her arms, trying to knee or punch the foot soldier while he poorly attempted to subdue her. Grabbing the back of his combat vest, I yanked the man off of her as best I could and lifted my leg to kick him, praising myself for wearing leggings today and not jeans. The soldier rapidly stumbled backward to remain on his feet and keep from tumbling to the ground yet again. I didn't have to worry about him for much longer though, because one moment he was there, and the next there was a shadow passing over him and he was gone.

 _Thank God for the turtles' perfect timing._ By then—save for a few idiotic or curious souls—most everyone was cleared out of the landing area and the turtles had swiftly finished off the Foot soldiers, leaving nobody else for me to test my skills out on. Somewhat disappointed, I watched as the brothers hurried up a ventilation shaft under construction and surrounded by a round, protective exterior of yellow canvas that stretched from the floor and into the concrete above. The occasional flicker lights within the mostly dark subway platform helped to keep them from being recognized.

 _I bet they're headed to the roof._

"They went up that way!" A woman cried, pointing to the turtles' escape route.

"Did you see that?" Someone murmured.

"Here, here. They climbed up here!" People were beginning to surround the yellow tarp in curiosity, including the girl I'd just saved.

"Right here. Some kind of freak!" A man stated. I clenched my jaw, some of my cooling rage reignited at that word.

"They're not freaks, they're heroes," I corrected before turning to hurry outside and meet up with them. SWAT people were fighting to get through the throngs of people exiting the subway, unaware that their job had already been done for them. All they had to do was grab the Foot soldiers the brothers had tied up and throw them in jail. Too bad that girl had managed to run off and evade prison, though I'm pretty sure one of the guys had knocked her into the wall hard enough to loose some tiles and leave a sizeable mark.

"Hey!" Someone called, "Wait!" I glanced behind me as I walked down a sidewalk, putting distance between me and that disaster.

 _What's she following me for?_ I stopped to wait while she caught up to me.

"Thanks for that back there, that was insane. Are you in karate or something?" She asked, gasping slightly to catch her breath.

"I'm…learning ninjutsu." Her eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly in confusion and I rushed to change the topic before she could question me. "Are you okay? That guy basically tackled you back there." I was trying my best to remain polite, but I _really_ had to go find the guys, and this chick was not helping.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. I lost my phone though," she grimaced and flicked hair from her face. "I'm April." She held her hand out.

"Raiya," I said, shaking her hand and feeling awkward.

"Nice to meet you, and thanks again for what you did. I really shouldn't've had my phone out."

 _Yeah no kidding._ "No problem, those guys really piss me off."

"Yeah, and that chick seemed to know you…" There was a silent query in that statement; a dangerous one. I knew she heard me talking to that Footclan girl earlier, so there was no way I could deny knowing her.

"Uh," I grimaced. "Yeah…I had a run in with those guys not too long ago." April's eyes lit up with this strange excitement.

"You did?"

"Uh, yeah…They didn't really like me," I admitted, trying to sound as convincing as I could whilst saying as little as possible.

"No kidding," she laughed, crossing her arms. "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions? I'm a news reporter."

"Really?" _Shit shit shit, how the hell do I get myself out of this now!?_

April nodded. "Channel Six News."

"Oh yeah, you do look kinda familiar." _Goddamnit Raiya, think!_ "I would totally stay to answer some of your questions but I actually have somewhere to be. My sister is probably freaking out right now waiting on me. Sorry, but I really have to go," I explained, beginning to take small steps away.

"Oh don't worry about it. Thanks again!"

"No problem!" And with that, I spun and hurried on my way down the sidewalk

 **AN: What's everyone's opinion on April?**

 **I'm trying to decide wether or not I should add her to my story. Having April would definitely add some drama, but my original plan never included her (because she's kinda irritating in my opinion lol), so I'll have to alter a few things in the future plot line to include her. If I do decide to add her, she'll probably have a larger role in the sequel because we're already too deep into TSS's plot to give her a big role. Soooo yeah. Please let me know what you all think about adding April to the cast!**


	43. 42 Can't We All Just Get Along?

I glanced behind me to make sure April was gone before darting into an alley and hurrying up to the roof. I could hear Mikey's exuberant voice echoing down from the rooftop as I climbed further and further up.

"You see that? I _smoked_ that dude!" I couldn't help myself but laugh, though I quickly grew worried and apprehensive when I realized none of the other brothers were celebrating like Mikey.

 _They must be pissed._ With every step up I took closer to the roof, I began to wonder if turning around would've been a better alternative than facing them. I hated angry Leo, I hated angry Raph and I hated when the brothers worried over me like parents over a clumsy toddler. But I couldn't just walk off and not let them know I was okay, otherwise they'd show up at my apartment angrier than they would be now. So I kept climbing up.

 _Besides, Mikey's still in a good mood._ When I peeked my head onto the roof, Leo and Raph were already glaring at me. I glared right back and climbed to my feet.

"Hey RaiyRaiy!" Mikey greeted, sauntering to my side with a goofy grin plastered on his face. "Did you see me take that guy out!?" His excitement was contagious and I was immediately infected.

"Hell yeah I did! It was sick!" I held out my fist for a fist bump he readily granted me. "You guys were _all_ awesome!" I said, turning and grinning at the brothers in an attempt to alleviate some stress from the atmosphere. But even through the darkness, I could see Raphael grinding his jaw. I pulled the tantō out from my jacket pocket.

"Thanks for this, too bad I didn't get to use it though." Raph took the blade with a less than pleased expression on his face.

"Raiya," he said in a low tone wavering on the precipice of a rage-fuelled explosion, " _please_ tell me you didn't go in there because of what we were talking about earlier." I blinked in surprise. I hadn't even thought of that. A joke flitted through my mind, but now didn't seem like the time for one. Instead, I held my hands up to calm any possible hostilities.

"I didn't, I swear." But he was still far from relaxed.

Leo spoke before he could. "Why would you go in there?" He demanded.

"Because I wasn't sure if it was the Footclan or not. I had to make sure I wasn't calling you guys over when it was just a big ass rat or something stupid," I retorted, crossing my arms. "You can't seriously be mad at me for this."

"I'm not mad at _you_ ," he muttered, eyes flicking momentarily over Raphael. Raph growled and spun toward him.

 _Not again! We_ just _got over this!_

"So, what Leo? You gonna pin this on me?" Donnie and Mikey sighed, averting their attention to something else—anything else. Leo stood defiantly in front of him, having to tilt his head up slightly to look his younger brother in the eye.

"Yeah, actually. I am."

I tried catching Donnie's attention but he was too focused on whatever it was he fiddled with in his hands. I sighed sharply, and spoke before Raphael could.

"You guys are like children." Neither of them broke their death glare toward the other, so I was forced to step in between them. "Grow up," I snapped, placing a hand on their plastrons and trying to shove them apart. Begrudgingly they both took a step back, but didn't break their locked gazes. "Neither of you could have started that in the subway, so chill out. We're _all_ fine. _Nobody_ got hurt," I insisted, my gaze darting desperately between them. Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long for one of them to look away.

"I'll take you home, Raiy." Raphael looked down at me, his green eyes fiery and muscles taut with anger despite his calm voice. Leo's eyes burned into him but Raph didn't turn, he just sent me a silent _please, let's just go._ I nodded and quickly thanked the turtles for coming to save mine and everyone's asses, then followed Raph down the fire escape and into the sewers.

We walked in silence.

I knew that Raph needed some quiet so he could calm himself and gather his thoughts, and I knew better than to address it before he was ready to, so we just walked. I pulled my earbuds out from beneath my jacket and pressed one into my ear.

 _"-just go._

 _And let your heart just go._

 _Don't let nobody tell you that you shouldn't be._

 _Just who you are._

 _You are, you are._

 _Don't let 'em tell you 'bout your make up._

 _And your blue jeans and your style of car._

 _Your car, your car._

 _And listen to me my friend._

 _When I say you're always in my heart._

 _My heart, my heart._

 _And though the days are dark sometimes._

 _You'll always be my shining star._

 _My star, my star..."_

I glanced up at Raphael, noting the gradually lessening stress in his body with relief.

"He blames me because I wasn't there with you," he said quietly. I shut my eyes, feeling his guilt and worry press down on me as if it were my own.

"It wasn't your fault," I insisted softly, but he shook his head.

"Stop saying that. You were almost killed. Karai would've shot you if we hadn't gotten there when we did."

 _So_ that's _her name!_

"I know but she would've killed me given the chance yesterday or tomorrow or whenever, but I–" I stopped, remembering what she'd said to me. Raphael watched me in concern. "You're of no further use to us," I repeated, horror-struck.

"What?"

"Oh my god," I met his gaze with fearful eyes. "They're _using_ me," I breathed, my constricting throat making my voice raspy.

" _Who's_ using you?" My heart pounded and my pulse roared in my ears.

 _Kaneko Emmalyn. You are a disgrace to your family's name._

I shivered despite my panicking state.

 _I will enjoy killing you._

 _No. No no no no no. This...isn't happening. It can't be!_

"Raiya?" Somehow, he was totally calm. "What happened?"

"That girl–Karai, she...she said that I'm of no further use to them, which is why she tried to kill me." My eyes flicked upward to his. "They're using me to find you guys. They know who I am, she _knew my name_." My eyes widened in realization, finally understanding the extent of this issue.

"Olivia," I breathed. "If they know who I am they must know about Liv. We have to get home!" I could feel the weight of hysteria creeping in, threatening to crush me.

Raphael took off down the tunnel without a moment of hesitation.

 **AN: Sorry for slacking on this chapter, idk why, I just wasn't really feeling it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

 **The song is called Let it Go by Michael Franti & Spearhead if anyone wants to look it up, it's actually really good.**


	44. 43 I'm Okay

"I'll stay here with you tonight," Raphael said, stepping into my room via the window, having returned from radioing his brothers and updating them on everything we'd discovered. I laid sprawled on my bed after a refreshing shower, no longer worried for Liv's wellbeing when I found her soundly asleep in her room.

I blew out a breath and turned my head to smile gratefully at him.

"Okay…thanks." And I felt more at ease for the first time since…well, since I met Leonardo and promised to keep his secret.

"Leo wanted to say that he's sorry for how he acted." I scoffed.

 _That's bullshit. I'm not even the one who_ deserves _an apology._

"And I'm guessing he never apologized to you?" I muttered, beginning to get really fed up with Leo.

"No."

I was prepared to argue and insist that he deserved an apology from his brother since he did nothing wrong, but with that single word I could tell that he was done talking about it. Raphael strode into my closet and flicked on the lights, searching for the blanket he knew resided there. I would have gotten it earlier myself but I didn't like him sleeping on the floor when I had a whole queen bed to myself.

"You know, you don't have to sleep on the floor," I said. "If you want, you can sleep on the other side of my bed." Raphael silently replied to my offer by switching my closet's light off and exiting with my Jasmine blanket in-hand. I almost laughed at the sight.

"I'm fine with sleeping on the floor," he insisted. I frowned but tossed him some pillows anyway and let him be. The air between us was awkward, to say the least. It wasn't like last time where we laid in a comfortable silence. No, it was like neither of us wanted to say anything in fear of starting an argument.

 _One of us has to say something_ , _and I_ know _it won't be Raph._ I wracked my brain trying to conjure something that would start a conversation or at least alleviate some of the awkwardness. _What were we talking about last?_ And a lightbulb seemed to go off in my head.

"Your turn," I whispered, hoping he'd catch on and recognize the game I was attempting to reignite. He didn't say anything for a long time, making me begin to believe he _really_ didn't want to talk, or even _be_ here for that matter.

But at last, he spoke.

"Are you okay?"

I opened my mouth to laugh and say yes, but then my mind flashed to earlier in the night when my body had frozen in a fear I'd believed to have gotten over years ago, and the steadily growing horror in knowing that the Footclan was somehow using me, and the terror I'd felt for Olivia as I desperately raced into my apartment, praying that I wouldn't find her murdered or kidnapped or crying in the midst of a ransacked home all because of me. I wanted to say no.

But then I remembered how Raphael had starting running even before me when I'd mentioned my sister, and how—unlike his older brother—he wasn't angry about the Footclan incident. I recalled how he'd been the one to bring the tantō and throw it to me in case I had to defend myself, and how he'd decided to stay the night to ensure my sister and I would be safe. I remembered how he was the first one to look away, to avoid a fight between him and his brother so he could bring me home safely. And now, as I realized that the biggest question circling through his mind concerned my wellbeing, I knew I was okay with him.

"Yeah," I murmured, smiling softly to myself, "I'm okay."

And just like that, as if my answer held some sort of power, the stress between us instantly vaporized.

"Okay, my turn," I shifted onto my stomach to look down at him. "Can you carve me something?" Raphael froze, then he met my gaze in surprise, then a huge smile slowly formed on his face.

"Like what?" A million different ideas were running through my brain, but I just shrugged and said,

"Surprise me." My curiosity to see what he'd come up with overrode my desire to choose for myself. Besides, I wasn't even sure if I _could_ decide on _just one_. I waited patiently for him to ask his question, and by the time he did, my eyelids were beginning to feel heavy.

"So what's your favourite colour?" My mind flashed back to a night only a week ago when I'd asked him the same question. I grinned tiredly and recited exactly what he'd said to me with a yawn.

"Is this your poor attempt at a conversation?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. Despite my exhaustion, I decided to have a little fun.

"Well I don't recall you making it easy for me, so start guessing."

"...Black?"

"Oh my god," I laughed, "am I really so boring that I wear that much black?"

"No, that was a half-assed guess," he admitted.

"You're painful," I muttered. "It's red." His mischievous smile faltered due to disbelief, but quickly grew larger.

"What?" I asked, matching his smile. "Why are you so surprised?" He shrugged.

"You don't strike me as a red person." I recoiled slightly and snorted.

"You make it sound like I'm committing a crime."

"I'm just surprised." Something in his expression and voice told me there was more than just surprise, but I just arched a knowing brow and voiced my next question.

"Do you like to knit?" He scoffed.

"Noway. Well, actually–wait. How do you know about that!?" He demanded, but I was too busy laughing to answer. "It's not funny," he muttered, obviously annoyed. "It's not like I do it for fun, it's just a punishment." I could feel his glare burning into me as I attempted to calm my bouts of laughter.

"How do you even know about that?" Raph snapped, once I'd composed myself enough to refocus on our conversation.

"My ingenious mind," I replied with a sweet smile, mimicking him once again. His glare briefly wavered with uncertainty, allowing me to see it was just a forced mask and that he wasn't _really_ mad at me, so I broadened my teasing smile and continued.

"I'm not as stupid as I look, you know." He watched me in slight annoyance.

"Are you done or do you wanna punch me, too?" Raph asked, his flat tone matching his expression.

"Nope," I shook my head. "I'm done. Your turn." I bit my lip to keep myself from exploding with more laughter. Just the idea of him talking about how little or how much he enjoyed knitting was absolutely hilarious considering how macho he usually was. Raph pondered his question for a while, steadily making me more anxious.

"What do you _really_ think of me and my family?" I frowned and opened my mouth to answer, but he cut me off gruffly. "And no bullshit, Raiya." He caught my gaze with blazing green eyes. "I'm serious."

It took a lot of willpower to keep from snapping at him that they were probably the most incredible people I'd ever met. And I had to remind myself that Raphael had believed himself to be a monster his whole life, and that it must be difficult for him to suddenly trust the drastically different words of someone else, even if he desperately wanted to.

"You guys are weird," I admitted, keeping my expression sincere. "And I love how weird you are because I feel like I fit in and I finally found my place. You guys are different and fun and incredible and honestly, I'm really glad I met you because my summer has never been this interesting before. It feels like my life's gotten a whole lot brighter ever since I ran into Leo. And that's also why I think you guys deserve so much more than the world has given you because you're nothing like monsters, and New York City does not deserve to have people like you to protect them, cuz most New Yorkers are total assholes. I _also_ think that if people would take a minute to just meet you guys, then they'd understand how amazing you guys really are. So yeah, I really, _really_ like you guys." I stared directly into his emerald eyes, hoping to convey just how genuine my words were so he'd finally understand. "A lot," I finished, somewhat dramatically but it was definitely necessary.

Raphael remained as stone-faced as usual. The only evidence of any emotion being the shine in his relieved eyes and a slight, thank-you nod. I returned the gesture, plus a small smile that in turn caused the corner of his mouth to perk slightly in a crooked, half-grin. With a warm twinge, I felt my heart jump in my chest. And right then, I wished for nothing more than to hug Raphael fiercely and thank him for being him and being with me, because it was times like these—with him—that I loved to look back on and smile contagiously simply from the brief recollection.

"So what do you think of me?" I asked, deciding it was only fair. And plus, I was ridiculously curious, so there was no way I'd pass up this rare opportunity.

But the moment those words left my mouth I noticed a flicker of fear pass through Raph's body, but he immediately relaxed almost as quickly as he'd tensed up.

"I think you're the weirdest person ever, but it's cool. You're funny, and annoyingly stubborn and determined, but you also seem to make everyone around you happier, somehow." He took a deep breath, as if building up enough force to break through any remaining fear that was holding him back. "Including me," he admitted. "I dunno how you do it, but I really like being around you. I feel like you understand me better than my brothers, and I'm grateful to have you to talk to all the time. I'm also really glad you tracked down Leo, I just wish I hadn't been such a jerk to you." He chuckled and shook his head slightly before locking eyes with me. "You're strong as hell, Raiy. And crazy fearless. It scares the hell out of Leo cuz you're so much like me, and it drives me crazy because _I'm_ supposed to be the badass but I can't help but admire your fire all the time instead." I flashed him a wicked grin and folded my arms in front of me to rest my chin on them while I listened in interest.

"You bring out this side of me that I've been trying to hide all my life, and that's what I love about you the most. You're the first person who kept digging and _wanted_ me to be me. I dunno how or why, but you put up with my dick moves and jerk attitude and everything, and you never gave up on me. You're just this incredible, talented, fiery girl that drives me absolutely crazy. It's kind of a shame that you hate people so much cuz nobody's ever gonna get a chance to know you like I do." My grin was officially tearing my face apart.

"I know you really don't like hugs," I said quietly, "and neither do I, but I'm gonna anyways." Before he could protest, I launched myself off the edge of my bed and tackled him none too gently. Though the guy was practically steel and rarely felt a thing, so I felt no remorse and fiercely wrapped my arms around his neck. His whole body vibrated with laughter as his arms immediately encircled me in a secure embrace.

And I couldn't believe Raphael was actually hugging me—or that _I_ was hugging _him_. Truthfully, I'd taken _myself_ a bit by surprise there, but I didn't regret my actions in the least because we fit together so perfectly it seemed as if we were two, reunited puzzle pieces. And I decided right away that this was officially comfier than my bed, and that I did _not_ want to move. It felt like I was being wrapped up in a warm, muscly cocoon of safety that smelled absolutely wonderful…and had an unusually rapid pulse and breathing pattern.

I smirked, lifting my head off his chest to look him in the eye. "Do I make you _nervous_ , Raphael?" I asked, raising a teasing brow.

He scoffed. "No."

Despite his denial, my expression morphed into a grin, having—surprisingly enough—become quite adept at seeing through the mutant's many masks. Throwing away his poorly presented guise, Raph chuckled and shifted his grip on me, which gave me a moment's warning before he shoved me off of him. I sighed, turning my head to look at him in an unimpressed manner.

"That was rude," I breathed.He just shrugged, which prompted me to punch his arm, then immediately roll out of reach with an evil laugh to avoid his retaliating fist. I was actually fairly impressed with my reflexes, and decided I couldn't let this opportunity escape me.

"That was a good try, tortoise."

"Tortoise!? I swear–!"

"Shhhh!" I hurriedly hushed him after recalling that we shouldn't risk waking my sister. "Olivia's asleep," I hissed in reminder, getting to my feet and hopping deftly over Raphael to return to the warmth of my bed.

"You're impossible," he grumbled, crossing his arms and glaring up at me. Though the amused glint in his eyes betrayed his obviously feigned demeanour of annoyance.

"Your turn," I prompted, my body far from tired and hoping for something to keep me busy for as long as I remained that way. Though Raphael's silence led me to believe I'd annoyed him to the point of him ignoring me, which was unfortunate considering how ridiculously _alive_ I felt in the absolute dead of night.

"Why do you hate people?" He asked, more curious than anything else. I laughed. _Isn't it obvious?_

"Because they're all idiots," I replied, blowing away irritating strands of hair that'd fallen in front of my eyes. "What about you?"

"…I don't _hate_ them," he argued, though quite poorly. "I just don't like that we have to risk our necks to protect people who'd just scream and kill us the moment they were given the chance to." I wanted to protest, but knew it would prove useless since he guessed right about most people. Instead, I reminded him it was once again his turn.

"Shouldn't you be going into grade eleven, not grade ten?" I blinked in surprise at the terrapin.

 _How does he know that? I didn't tell any of them... so he must've figured it out on his own._ It took me a few moments to collect my thoughts and refocus on the present. I was just so impressed with how closely Raph had to have been listening to pick up on such a minuscule detail of my life. I coughed to clear my throat before answering.

"Yeah, but I failed grade seven and had to redo it." I shrugged and forced the pathetic explanation from my mouth. "It was the year we, uh…moved here."

 _The year she died. The year my life seemed to gradually fall apart piece by piece before Olivia managed to save me._

Raphael nodded solemnly, conscious that there was much, much more to it than what I'd let on. He knew it was more than just 'the year we moved here'. And I was eternally grateful that his constant understanding saved me from the discomfort and anguish an explanation—however brief or lengthy—wrought upon me.

Warmth blossomed in my chest like a flame fanned ever brighter and ever higher, causing a smile to alight upon my lips. I felt this overwhelming urge to shift the mood of the conversation to something more lighthearted, and I had just the thing to do it. My laughter just about escaped my mouth before my words could.

"Do you have a tail?" I knew all turtles had tails, but I wasn't entirely sure about _mutant_ turtles. Especially Raphael—the intimidating and oddly attractive ninja guy with a ridiculously cocky attitude. Just the idea of him having a tail seemed absolutely absurd and only made me question the possibility even further; so I decided to coordinate an investigation. He sighed heavily before answering.

"I'm a goddamn turtle Raiya, so yes, I have a tail. And I'm _not_ showing it to you."

I snickered knowingly. "Why not?"

"Because I'm not showing you my ass!" My snickers quickly escalated to full blown laughter, and I had to contain it as best I could to keep Olivia from waking up.

"Are you _insecure_ , Raphael?" I teased, eliciting another annoyed groan from the turtle which only made it more difficult to keep my laughter under control.

"I hate you," he muttered, blowing a long breath out through his nose. "I really, _really_ hate you."

I flashed Raph an overly broad grin, aware that he felt _quite_ the opposite.

 **AN: AHHHHHH WELL THAT WAS CUTE AF ! I FCKING LOVE THESE CUTIES**

 **For once I actually kinda like how this chapter turned out lol so please review and let me know what you all though of it!**

 **Also, if you guys are enjoying TSS so far and happen to be fans of my writing, you should consider checking out my Spider-Man fanfic** ** _The Unsaveable Girl._** **I'd appreciate it a ton :)**

 **Thanks for being freaking awesome! Love you guys!**


	45. 44 Restless Nights

_Someone is watching me._

 _Whoever it is, they're close enough to set my internal alarms off and wake me from my peaceful sleep._

 _I can feel their dark and heavy presence flowing through my room and over me like oil. It presses down on my chest, making breathing a significantly more difficult function._

The Footclan.

 _Panic begins to settle in my stomach like pebbles tossed into a pond, and I fight the hysteria with everything I have to keep my mind clear and my body prepared for whatever—or_ who _ever—I may have to face._

 _Luckily though, I don't have to face it alone._

 _"Raph?" I whisper as loud as I dare, but it's not enough because his light snoring remains undeterred._

 _I can feel them stalking closer, and somehow I know that it no longer matters how loud I am. With that knowledge in mind, I roll off my bed and land right on top of him._

 _And still, he doesn't wake up._

Oh god. He's not waking up, why is he not waking up!?

 _They continue to gradually creep closer, giving me less and less time to wake up Raphael, which seems to be impossible. It's like he's dead, yet still breathing—comatose. But that's not okay because I can't protect him_ and _Olivia_ and _me!_

 _Then they're upon me and I'm left with no other choice._

 _I wrench a sai from Raph's belt and hold it up to deflect an incoming blow, but I'm tossed aside like a rag doll. I look up in time to see them draw a sword and promptly slice open Raphael's throat. His fearful, jade eyes shoot open to meet mine for a nanosecond before permanently fluttering shut. The assassin rips his mask from his face and ties it onto their belt, completing their collection of trophies. Red, purple, blue and orange. Somehow, I know that Splinter is gone as well._

 _And I shatter into more pieces than I can possibly hope to reassemble._

 _I try to fight it but the anger and the rage is burning red across my vision—a never-ending, uncontrollable wildfire of fury—and it's utterly unstoppable. The hungry flames spew promises of vengeance, so I allow it to consume me._

 _And then I unleash myself upon the Footclan assassin._

 _But it's not enough. They're stronger than me and I can do nothing to stop them._

 _And then Olivia's dead too. I can feel it in my very being—as if the threads holding me together have been severed. Her death presses down on me like an irremovable weight on my chest, compressing my lungs and once more rendering respiration a painful and miserable task._

 _I can't stop them, and I know without a doubt that soon, Uncle Tom will join the death count as well._

 _And I can't do anything…Not one,_ single _thing._

 _Just when I found myself a place in the world and a real family, it's torn effortlessly from my weak, incompetent grasp._

 _And I feel so utterly alone in this cruel world I can hardly recognize who I am. I just keep breaking over and over and_ over _again into smaller and smaller fragments until I feel as if I'm no more than dust suspended in the dead, unmoving air._

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Raiya?" I did my best to suppress my groan when he whispered to me in an undoubtedly concerned tone.

 _Of_ course _I woke him up._

"Yeah?" I sighed, reaching a hand up to rub the exhaustion from my eyes, only to find them wet with tears. I scowled and wiped my face dry.

"Y'okay?" His low voice was raspy from sleeping and lifted my mood a bit.

"Uh, y–yeah. I'm fine." I shook the fearful stutter from my voice in frustration. "Did I wake you up?"

"Nah. I was only shallow sleeping and it sounded like you were having a nightmare."

"Sorry." My words were still irritatingly shaky. "I'm fine." I repeated, though I felt far from it. And even without me admitting to it Raph knew as well as I did that I was _not_ fine. But he didn't say anything about it, and I was grateful for that.

"What's shallow sleeping?" Based off what he'd called it I had a pretty good idea, but the last thing I wanted right then was to sound like a total idiot when I was already being a fearful toddler.

"It's like light sleeping on purpose so you're aware of most of what's going on around you but still sleep at the same time. Me and my brothers figured it out so we could avoid getting pranked by Mikey in our sleep."

"And yet, you _still_ tried to tattoo Donnie." I shook my head with a grin.

I couldn't imagine even half of all the things the turtles had gotten up to throughout their lives. Mikey never seemed to run out of entertaining stories from their childhood, and listening to them all was easily becoming one of my favourite pastimes.

"He looked like he was in a coma," Raph argued. "I even jabbed him a few times before he woke up."

"So he has a random black dot somewhere?"

"A really small one on his…right side. Can't see it unless you look real close though."

I held back a giggle. "I'm sure he really appreciates that."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Mikey used to always poke it and die laughing when Donnie freaked out." I grinned to myself, containing my laughter over the sight I could so easily imagine.

The stars on my roof seemed to shine brighter than ever, possibly because I felt absolutely no desire to sleep. And it wasn't even entirely due to my nightmare, I just felt so energized.

"I'm bored," I groaned, twisting in my bed so I laid on my stomach and my head was turned toward the window. Though it only served to worsen my restlessness with the knowledge that I could just hop right out and onto the roof.

"What?" He hissed. "How the hell are you bored?" I sighed through my nose and shrugged my shoulders even though I knew he couldn't see me.

"I dunno, I just can't sleep. I wanna do something."

He snorted. "Like what?…It's one in the morning."

"That's it?" I said in surprise. "We could totally do something."

"Like what?" He repeated.

"I don't know!" I rolled out of my bed, making sure not to step on the mutant terrapin laying on the floor. He propped himself up on his forearms and peered incredulously at me through the darkness.

"What're you doing?" I shrugged, grabbing a hoodie off a hook on the wall beside the door.

"Going outside." I pulled the thick fabric on over my head and strode over to the window to open it.

"You're serious?" Raph hissed in disbelief. I threw my hands up and spun to shoot him a look of annoyance.

"Yes." And with that, I turned back around and climbed outside. The cold wind washed over my face and seeped in through my thin, fleece pants. I stared up at the sky, hoping against hope that I'd spy a star through all the light pollution and smog. But—once again—my desperate search was unsuccessful. Knowing they were up there and just outside of my reach absolutely killed me.

"Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Nothing." I exhaled and I could just about see my breath suspended in the brisk night air. "Just looking for stars." I didn't even hear him but suddenly I could feel him right behind me. "Wanna spar?"

"Hell yeah." I thrust my elbow out behind me but he caught it and sent me stumbling forward with a laugh.

"Come on Raiy," he mocked in a teasing tone, "kick it up a notch."

"Don't tempt me," I warned, gritting my teeth and lifting my leg in a kick as I spun back around. "I'll fight dirty."

" _That'd_ be interesting," he agreed, dodging my foot effortlessly.

 _You're asking for it._ I only needed half a moment in which my vision went blank with all the knowledge from a life lived long ago, and then I was ducking under Raph's blow and swiping a sai from his belt with all the grace of a fox and more.

"Alright," he nodded and slipped his remaining sai from his belt. "Let's fight dirty, then." He spun the weapon in his palm and widened his stance. I weighed it in my hand, adjusting my grip accordingly to accommodate for it's overly-large size. I knew how to use it. And thanks to today's sparring lessons with Raph, I was able to determine how he fought. So when he struck, I knew when to block and where he was exposed. I knew how to move past him and how to read his intentions. Unsurprisngly, it still wasn't enough; I could never come out on top. But dancing in the dead of night beneath the light of the moon and the stars that hid from sight, I hadn't a care in the world.

 **AN: I was kinda iffy writing this one with Raiya's dream and stuff, but it's the only way I could think of to bring her fears into play since she always maintains a strong exterior. But I though it'd be cute for Raph to kinda help her through it in the end so I just went with it lol.**

 **Do you guys like the nightmare scenes? Is there anything I could do to improve them? I'm totally open to suggestions cuz I find writing them to be kinda difficult sometimes. And the nightmare are** ** _not_** **going away anytime soon so please let me know what I could improve on!**

 **Like Raphael, Raiya is a super reserved person and she keeps a lot of stuff to herself. So she ends up dealing with everything alone, and her fears kinda just build up and you know you dream about whatever it is you're thinking about so that's why she has these nightmares. And they're gonna start getting more and more constant because some shit's gonna go down real soon lol so hold onto your hats people!**

 **btw you guys I have the best ending planned for TSS I'm literally already screaming I'm so freaking excited !**

 **ANYWAY, thank you so much for the reviews and please leave me some more! I love reading them! You guys are the best!**


	46. 45 Sweet Moments

"Just smell them."

"No. You're making me think they smell like shit."

"How can they smell like shit, Raiya? They're _flowers_."

I shrugged and eyed the vase of tiny, purple flowers warily.

"Come on," Liv urged. "I got them last night, it's not like they're bad or anything." I narrowed my eyes a tad and leaned forward to inhale the bouquet's scent…And holy shit. Olivia read my expression and grinned knowingly.

"Right!?"

"They smell like heaven," I said.

"Almonds?"

I took a huge whiff and nodded. "Yeah." Then I took another. "…and vanilla, kind of. What are they?"

"Heliotropes! Andy got them for me when we were at the botanic garden…Oh! And," she surged to her feet and rushed over to the kettle, picking a mug off the counter to show it to me. It looked like a white cup with a pattern of vertical black lines that occasionally had black rectangles filled between them.

"Very pretty," I agreed sarcastically. Olivia smirked and raised the kettle up as well. I snorted. "Liv, what the hell are you doing?" Remaining suspiciously silent, she poured the steaming hot water into the mug with a flourish. I rolled my eyes at my sister's unnecessary dramatics. She stared at the cup as of expecting it to come to life and start hopping about the kitchen. I watched her with raised eyebrows, unable to understand her excitement. And then the black rectangles on the mug began to fade to red and yellow and blue. Recognition flitted through me.

"Oh it's like that famous painting."

"Composition two in red, blue and yellow by Piet Mondrian," Liv announced proudly, dropping a tea bag into her now colourful, steaming mug and leaning back against the counter with a smug smile. I laughed softly and shook my head at her.

 _And the turtles think_ I'm _a nerd._

"You're such a loser," I said, dragging the heliotrope bouquet closer to me so I could enjoy the incredible smell.

"There was a really pretty tulip in acrylic at the museum," Liv added, sniffing her steeping tea absently.

 _A flower in acrylic?_

"Like a painting?" I asked.

"No, I mean it was _literally_ in acrylic. Like an actual tulip was preserved in acrylic and shaped like a box. It was really cool and I would've gotten it, but it was like four-hundred dollars!"

My jaw dropped "For a flower in a box!?" I sputtered.

"It _was_ really pretty," Liv murmured, her tone prompting me to make a mental note to let Andy know about the boxed flower sometime.

"Well kudos to you for restraining yourself," I laughed. "Besides, a colour-changing cup is way cooler and more functional." I hopped off my stool, making a hurried beeline for the fridge to sate my nagging hunger.

"So what should we do today?" I asked, scanning the shelves and drawers for potential breakfast options.

"I kinda just wanna have a home day," Liv mumbled, fiddling with her tea bag's string.

"Cool with me," I said, my eyes falling on a container of cream cheese. "Do we still have bagels?" I asked hopefully.

"Ummmmmm…yup." I heard her twist the bag open and pop one into the toaster sitting beside her.

 _Score!_ I grabbed the container and swung the refrigerator door shut before heading toward Olivia. My sister had a deeply thoughtful expression on her face, and I suddenly felt very apprehensive.

"How about…"

"I am not putting one of your scary black face masks on," I declared, shooting down the idea she before she could even think of it.

"They're _charcoal,_ " she argued, shooting me a light glare. "And I wasn't gonna _say_ that, I was gonna say we should–"

"I'm not gonna let you do my makeup either," I interrupted determinedly. Then Olivia _really_ glared at me.

"Just _shhhhh!"_ She ordered.

"Okay." I crossed my arms and leaned back against the counter. "Fine."

"Thank you." She tossed hair out of her face and sniffed experimentally at her tea before finally saying: "We should bake something."

My lips twitched up into a huge grin. "HELL _YEAH!_ "I cheered. "LET'S BAKE A CAKE!" The toaster popped, making Liv jump a bit. I snickered at her reaction, earning me another glare.

"Why the hell would you want an entire cake?" She asked.

I shrugged and spread cream cheese on my now-toasted bagel. "Go big or go home." I caught the sound of her heavy sigh and grinned to myself.

"We can make cupcakes–"

"Done."

••• 影の秘密 •••

One batch of cupcakes and two batches of _un_ planned cupcakes later and Olivia was on the verge of dumping the remainder of the icing all over me.

"Raiya what the _fuck_ are we gonna do with all these?" She demanded, slathering a pitiful amount of icing overtop of one.

"Well _first_ we're gonna ice them properly," I said, sneaking my spoon into her bowl to scoop some more onto the cupcake. "And _then_ I'm gonna eat them."

"Raiya, you can't eat thirty-six cupcakes before they go bad," she argued.

I smirked and licked my spoon. _Try me._ I reached a hand back to scratch at the itch that had suddenly sprang up at the back of my head, but it was only after I scratched uselessly at it that I realized the itch was in the back of my _mind_. No, it wasn't an itch…it was a tickle.

 _Someone was watching me._

I just about choked on my own saliva. Thankfully, Liv didn't seem to even notice, but she did notice when I began to walk away.

"Hey! Where are you going?" She demanded. I bit my lip and thought desperately for an excuse.

"I have to pee," I said, then darted into my room without once turning back to look at her. I thanked whoever was looking down on me that she didn't notice the cupcake I'd stolen.

Raphael didn't take his gaze from the ceiling as I entered. "You _really_ need to work on that," he said, laying on his back on my bed.

"Shut up," I muttered, licking icing off the tips of my fingers.. "And stop creeping on us."

"What else am I supposed to do?" He asked. "I already went through all your shit." I blew the breath from my cheeks and rolled my eyes at the half-assed lie intended to rile me up.

"No you didn't."

"I _will_ ," he countered.

I lifted the cupcake into the air. "Do you want this or not? Cuz I will _not_ hesitate to throw it at you." Finally, Raph turned his head to look at me.

"You wouldn't waste a precious cupcake on me."

I shrugged. "You're right, I guess I'll just eat it," I said, turning and striding into my bathroom.

"No you won't," he called after me, obviously unaware of just how much I loved those little morsels of heaven.

I smirked. "Try me."

 **AN: Apologies for the short chapter haha I've recently been working on making new cover pages for my stories so my attention was a little divided. But I finally managed to make a new cover for TSS and I actually really like it! What do you all think?**

 **As always, please review!**


	47. 46 Betrayal

"I'm bored," Liv groaned, flopping face first onto the couch.

"How about–" Her head shot up and interrupted me before I could finish.

"I _refuse_ to play video games with you," she announced before pressing her face back into a pillow.

I sighed and crossed my arms. "Fine... What d'you wanna do then?" She mumbled incoherently into the pillow and I rolled my eyes. "Well if you hadn't gotten rid of my Nerf gun we could've had a shooting contest!" Liv groaned.

"Oh god, get over it," she grumbled, lifting her head to shoot me a bewildered, unimpressed glare. I stuck my tongue out at her childishly. Olivia returned the gesture.

I perked up with a sudden, brilliant thought and immediately darted back into the kitchen.

"What are you doing?" She called after me.

"I want a milkshake!" I yelled, opening the freezer and grabbing the vanilla ice cream.

"How are you _not_ fat?" She demanded.

I rolled my eyes and yanked the refrigerator door open. "Do you want one?"

"Yes please!"

I smirked and grabbed all my desired ingredients.

"Put in a movie!" I suggested.

"Like what?" Liv gasped audibly. "Can we watch Saving Private Ryan?"

 _Ugh. Why do I ever trust her with picking movies?_

"Raiya." Olivia stood in the kitchen doorway with big, begging puppy-dog eyes. " _Pleeeeeease_?" Having no effect on me, she resorted to pushing her lips out in a pout. "There's some action in it," she added in the hopes of swaying my opinion. "It's supposed to be _really_ good."

I sighed. "It better be good." A grin broke out on her face and she nodded.

"Oh it will be, Vin Diesel _and_ Matt Damon are in it."

I raised my eyebrows and nodded appreciatively at the mention of the cast. "I'm officially interested." Olivia laughed and hurried back to the TV to find it on Netflix.

"You know, for someone who hates dramas and sappy shows, you sure do love anything with a hot lead character," she pointed out.

I snorted and pulled the blender out from a cupboard. "Who doesn't?"

"True... does that make this a popcorn worthy movie?"

"Considering Vin Diesel is a part of it, I'd say so," I began tossing eye-balled measurements of ingredients into the blender. Olivia appeared beside me to grab the popcorn maker from the same cupboard.

"Do you know what you're doing?" She asked, eying my milkshake's current state doubtfully.

"Are you doubting my abilities?" I demanded. "This bad boy has _ice cream_ in it. I know _exactly_ what I'm doing."

"Okay," she held her hands up in surrender. "Just making sure you won't kill me."

"I won't." I dumped frozen strawberries into the blender and switched it on, watching as the red and white swirled into pink.

After a taste test and evening out the ingredients to fix the flavour, I deemed my masterpiece ready. Liv then finished with the popcorn and we settled on the couch to watch her chosen movie. At some point, Raphael snuck out of my room and into the kitchen to grab the milkshake I had left out for him and probably watched the movie as well from a hiding spot. I never saw or heard him, but I felt his presence in the air.

And I wished more than ever that he could've been sitting right beside me as opposed to the shadows.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"So tell me more about this _Raphael,_ " Olivia suggested excitedly once the movie had ended.

 _Uh-oh._ In an attempt to play off my angst, I lifted an eyebrow at her and appeared as bored as I could manage.

"Don't give me that look!" Liv shoved me with a force that just about had me rolling onto my side.

"What look?" I asked innocently.

She rolled her eyes. "That stupid _I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about_ look that makes me feel like an idiot." My jaw dropped.

"I am not stupid!"

"What?" Her eyebrows drew together in confusion. "I never said you were!" I lifted a brow, quite aware that she did in fact call my _'I-don't-know-what-you're-talking-about'_ look stupid, which equated to calling _me_ stupid.

"Stop giving me that look!" She shoved me again, and this time I did roll over onto the couch's mattress in partially suppressed laughter. I thought I'd succeeded in switching the topic of the conversation and was about to congratulate myself on my wonderful act but I was far from successful.

"Seriously, I wanna know more about him," she insisted earnestly.

"How?" I asked, desperate to deter her interest.

She sighed irritatedly and rolled her eyes. "What does he look like!?"

"Uh," I ran my fingers through the roots of my hair anxiously. "Well he's really tall–"

"Niiice, tall guys are hot as hell," Liv butted in with an excited gleam in her blue eyes. She grinned and shifted on the couch. "Continue," she prompted.

"Well he's crazy buff," I laughed. "Like _crazy_." Liv nodded along to my description approvingly. "And has a big, weird scar on his shoulder. But it's pretty cool, I like it… and his eyes are this really nice, intense green like I've never seen before. Oh, and he has another scar on his lip. And a weird one on the inside of his arm. He has a lot of scars," I laughed.

"Yeah no kidding. What does he do?"

"Uh…martial arts." Her eyes narrowed in confusion and I waited nervously for her reaction. Finally, Liv blew out her breath in a rush and shook her head amusedly.

"Jeez, he sounds as violent as you," she muttered. "You guys sound perfect for each other in a scary kinda way," she leaned forward. "What about hair?" Panic flared through my veins.

"Uh," I racked my brain, trying to imagine Raphael as a human. "Really messy, kinda spiky reddish-brown."

"He sounds hot," she yawned. "Has he made a move yet?"

 _What?_ "A move?" I repeated. "No… We're just friends." Olivia rolled her eyes and stretched her arms as she got to her feet.

"Sometimes Raiy, you're obliviousness amazes me."

 _What the hell is she talking about?_ I regarded her in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Liv sighed and gathered the dirty dishes to bring them to the kitchen. "I'm gonna have a shower." Still mulling over my sister's words, I made my way to my room. I was still trying to understand what I could be so oblivious towards when my eyes landed on an empty glass that had once contained a milkshake now sitting on my desk.

 _Shit._ I scanned my room hurriedly, but found no sign of the mutant. My heart rated kicked up another notch. _He heard us. He heard me talking about him, there's no way he didn't._

"Raph?" I hissed as loudly as I dared. Blood pounded through my ears as I darted into my bathroom, then my closet.

And nothing.

He was gone.

Because I'd done something I'd promised I wouldn't. I'd told Olivia about him without thinking, I'd exposed his family without meaning to and now I couldn't take it back.

I'd betrayed him when he'd been so afraid to trust me and for this very reason.

I'd betrayed Raphael.

 _I betrayed him…I betrayed my friend._

And the only thought that ran through my mind was what he was thinking right now. And I could just about hear his thoughts in my mind.

 _I trusted her._

 _I opened up to her and I trusted her and she betrayed me. Just like I thought she would._

 _She betrayed me._

I ran my hands though my wild hair and bit back the tears I had no right to spill.

He'd been so afraid. So, _so_ afraid.

And I'd convinced him to trust me.

And then I confirmed his fears.

I sat on the edge of my bed, holding my face in my hands and breathing raggedly.

 _I betrayed him. I betrayed him._ _I betrayed him._

A light breeze drifted across my skin and I looked up at my window—wide open to the darkening sky above New York city. And I felt like a monster.

 _He was right all along. Humans_ are _the real monsters._

 _I am._

 **AN: Oooooh dramaaaaa lol sorry for the past few shitty chapters and the late update. I've been busy with holiday prep and trying to keep up with my teachers cramming in the last of the units we have to learn before semester ends. Aaaaand I'm already stressing over finals lol kill me.**

 **Anyways, my plan as to jump into all the action real soon, so be prepared! It's gonna be a bumpy ride with this sudden drama!**

 **Please review! :)**


	48. 47 Fractured

_Okay, get a grip. I can't just leave things like this, I need to talk to him and work it out. He's gonna be pissed but I need to. He probably went to the lair._ I glanced up at my open window continuing to allow cold winds to drift inside. I looked like absolute shit from doing absolutely nothing today but I didn't care in the slightest as I slipped out the window—

And almost slit my throat on the deadly sharp edge of a sai blade.

"Raph–!"

"You better have a hell of a good reason for whatever _bullshit_ I just heard back there," Raphael spat, tightening his already-tight grip on the weapon's handle.

"I'm sorry, I–"

" _Don't_ say that," he growled. "I don't wanna fuckin hear it. Just tell me _who_ knows and _what_ they know." I stared at him in horror, unable to utter a single word. "Now!" He ordered, pressing his blade closer to my throat. A tear escaped the corner of one eye and I turned my head so he wouldn't see it.

"Raph, I _am_ sorry. I don't–"

 _"I don't care,"_ he sneered, stepping closer to me.

" _Yes_ , you do."

"Don't you–"

"Just let me explain," I begged. He narrowed his eyes, his expression contorting into one of scalding anger.

"You can explain your fuckin heart out to the others but I'm done listening to your bullshit," he said, taking another step closer so I had to strain my head back to look at his face. "Now tell me what she knows."

"I'll tell you anything you want if you'll just hear me out," I offered. "Please." He glared at me, long and hard and barren of mercy. It was as if we'd rewinded to last week when Raph refused to trust me. Only this time, he had trusted me and I'd broken that trust. And that was so much worse.

"Five seconds," he said, pulling his sai back a bit.

"I regret it but I didn't know what else to do because you were being an ass and I needed her to help me decide wether or not I should put up with it because I wanted to hang around you because I care about you but I didn't know if you hated me and I needed her to tell me if I should just give up on trying to be your friend because I couldn't tell if you wanted me as a friend since you were always being an ass!" I cried. I'd definitely already surpassed the allotted five seconds but he was still listening and I wasn't about to pass up possibly my only opportunity. "Raph, I know what I did was wrong and there's no excuse for it but I didn't have any intention of hurting you guys. I'd _never_ do that and you _know_ that wether you want to believe it or not," I blinked hard against the threat of more tears and sucked in a breath to steady my voice. "I know you didn't want to trust me, and I know it was shitty of me to convince you to and then do exactly what you thought I would, but I feel awful about it and I wish I could take everything back but I can't and I can't tell you how much that kills me." Raphael lifted his heavy gaze to me.

"I _did_ want to trust you," he said, correcting me with a low, almost hostile tone. "And I wish I could take that back, too." I felt my heart fracture with those words. A wave of his sai sealed my lips from immediately launching into another desperate explanation.

"What does she know?"

I narrowed my eyes at him as I recalled how I'd first described him to Olivia, deciding that if he wanted the truth I'd give it to him exactly how I'd given it to Liv; word-by-word if I had to.

"Your name is Raphael. I met you my first day working at the zoo. You're tall, super cut, you have red-ish hair and green eyes. You do martial arts, which is why you have a bunch of scars: a weird one on your shoulder, one on your lip and one on the inside of your arm. You're a total hot-head and have zero social skills. You're pissed at the world and constantly keep up a tough guy act that you drop when you're around me. You're actually a total softie and when you do open up to me we always have fun together, but then you get mad for showing weakness and mask it by lashing out at me," I paused, letting my words sink in and holding my stare on him. "I only mentioned you having one brother to Olivia but Uncle Tom knows you have three. He also knows that sometimes you're an arrogant asshat but you just use that to hide your soft side. You're actually really sweet, and fun, and good at listening when I need you to be. And you'd always try to hide yourself behind your anger, so I wasn't sure if you liked showing me that side of you or if you just hated me or what." I hugged myself against the chills gradually seeping into my body. "Happy?" I demanded, forcing the word from my mouth with as much acidity as I could muster.

He finally looked up, at last meeting my gaze. And he blinked and there was a momentary shift deep in his emerald-green eyes, and I could see—just about _feel_ —all the agonizing pain and misery he was keeping locked up beneath the rage. He was right there, right under the surface and I was so close to reaching him.

Raphael reached his free hand up to his transmitter and clicked it on, his next words making my heart sink deeper into a hopeless, black abyss.

"Guys, we got an issue," he kept his gaze on me as if I'd make a break for it at any moment. "We're on our way to the lair." He turned it off and jerked his chin toward my open window.

"Go give her an excuse and get some clothes on," he ordered, his eyes hardened and his voice stiff.

"I know you want to believe me, Raph. I know you're hurting–"

"Shut the _hell_ up," he snapped, shifting his sai and hooking the point beneath my jaw in a split second.

"I _know_ you're hurting," I continued. "And I know that it's my fault–"

"Raiya…" He flexed his fingers on his sai in warning and stepped closer.

" _Please_ can you just see that I'm sorry?" His eyes dropped to the weapon in his hand, and for a moment I thought my words had made it through his barriers, but then he spoke and his voice remained it's low, menacing tone.

"I believed you once," he said. "But I won't do that to myself or my family again." A quiet ringing crackled from the transmitter, followed by Leo's voice.

 _"What is it? Do you need backup?"_

I waited to hear Raphael's reply but he growled and pointed harshly toward my window with his sai. I sighed and retreated to my room. I could still hear the shower running in Olivia's room so I made my way over there, trying to come up with a decent excuse.

I knocked on her bathroom door as loud as I could, hoping she'd be able to hear me over her music.

"Yeah!?" She yelled, turning the song's volume down.

"I'm gonna go to bed! I just found out I have a really early shift at the zoo tomorrow!"

"Aw that sucks!"

I laughed. "Yeah, I know."

"Okay, well goodnight!"

"Goodnight."

I rubbed my face with a groan and went back to my room to change into more appropriate clothing for late-night trekking through NYC's sewers, which was really just leggings and a hoodie.

Upon hearing Raphael talking, I hesitated before crawling back out onto the roof.

"Yeah, _I know_ ," he sighed, "see ya."

"Raiya!" He yelled, ducking his head to look in through my window. "Let's go!"

••• 影の秘密 •••

Leo was there waiting for us when the door swung open to the lair. He sighed through his nose and helped me down, murmuring an apology in my ear as he did so. I smiled weakly at him.

"I'm sorry too," I whispered. Raphael dropped to the ground beside us and shot me a glare before turning to Leo and shaking his head, as if silently conveying to his brother that I was a bad decision. I looked up as Mikey and Donnie came over, the former with an expression of absolute confusion and disbelief while the latter appeared simply exhausted.

"Raiya." My gaze shot to the rat standing in the archway nearest his room, gesturing for me to come. I hurried across the training room, glad to finally be able to speak with someone reasonable.

"Sensei, I'm _so_ sorry, I–" He lifted a paw, silencing me immediately.

"I'm sure my son has just made a mountain out of a molehill," he said, entering his room and taking a seat on a floor pillow. "Please, sit and tell me."

So I sat on a pillow with tears in my eyes and spilled my shattered heart out to him.

Upon the conclusion of my story, he chuckled and reached a paw out to clasp my hands in his own.

"This is no great peril you've put my family in. It's a small slip," he said reassuringly. "One we can fix easily. Don't worry yourself over our safety, Raiya. The only real damage was done to Raphael's trust, and I can't help you mend the damage; that is your responsibility. But I will tell you that my son does not hate you." I smiled, my cheeks stiff from dried tears.

"Thank you, Sensei. And I'm still really sorry for doing this to you guys, I didn't mean to."

He nodded, "I know."

And the alarms started blaring as if hell itself was upon us.

 **AN: Sorry for the two week wait on this chapter guys! I've been kinda busy with sleeping in and eating chocolate lol but it's finally up and guess what!? We're finally getting into the action and the movie plot! Updates should be coming faster now that I have something fun and with a set plot to write haha. But my break ends in three days and finals are coming up in two weeks so be warned that that could slow down updating as well.**

 **Anywho, you guys are seriously awesome for putting up with my shitty updating schedule lately! Thank you so much for being patient! Love you guys and please remember to leave a review or a smiley face or somethin :)**


	49. 48 Breached

"Perimeter infringe, breached!" Donnie announced. "We have incoming!" Without hesitation, I shot to my feet and followed the turtles' thundering footsteps to the monitor wall with a racing heart. I knew they were here. I knew it was the Footclan—could feel it in my bones. I just couldn't understand how they managed to findus.

"Oh no oh no!" Donnie moaned, sliding into the chair in front of the TVs. "We got two breaches!" He adjusted his glasses nervously and began typing madly while staring at the monitor. I watched in growing horror as images of black-clad Footclan soldiers bearing guns and long, weird batons marched across the screens. "Fan room!" He cried. "Weapons wall!" Leo jumped into action, taking charge immediately.

"Mikey," he called. "Flank right!" The youngest turtle nodded and took off. "Donnie! On me!" Leo hopped anxiously on his feet while waiting for his brother to stand from his seat. "We gotta go!" He yelled, spinning and running off. "Go! Go!" Donatello tore his worried gaze from the monitors.

"Raiya!" I spun and found Raphael rushing toward me from the dojo, swerving to avoid being barrelled over by Leo, then Donnie as he followed his brother.

 _Oh no. No way in_ hell _am I gonna leave them to deal with these fuckin pricks!_

"I need a weapon," I said, trying to sidestep the turtle before he could demand I leave or accuse me of being the cause of this. His hand clamped onto my shoulder and wrenched me around to face him. I shrugged off his grip harshly fully prepared to defend myself from the mutant's harsh words, but before I could yell at him my eyes fell on the tantō blade and leather belt of kunai knives he held out.

"No lethal hits. And don't get close to them unless you have to," he advised, dropping the weapons into my hand and running off as I stared at him in disbelief. And I couldn't believe that he'd just spoken to me with almost no hostility in his voice.

 _Hurry it up, Raiya. You don't have time for this,_ I reminded myself, throwing the belt on overtop of my hoodie and buckling it as quickly as I could manage. Splinter's voice rang out through the lair, yelling something I couldn't quite catch. And then something exploded, rendering me momentarily deaf. I stumbled on my feet as tremors shot through the floor and walls of the lair. A thick cloud of dust rolled in from the dojo, causing my eyes to sting and my throat to tickle despite having turned away from it.

Dimly, I heard Leo call Donnie's name from the dojo where the explosion went off.

And then I heard new voices. And my stomach dropped like a sack of flour.

 _Holy shit holy shit holy shit._ The sounds of a scuffle reached my roaring ears and I willed myself to calm down.

 _Breathe._

Inhale…exhale...

 _Calm._

I tucked the tantō into my belt and pulled the sleeves of my hoodie up before drawing two knives; the weight of the weapons helping to steady my hands and even my breathing.

 _Calm,_ I reminded myself, _stay calm. You got this._

I tugged my hood on and released another breath, my heart rate returning to normal. _I got this._

"They've got tranq darts!" Donnie said, the panic in his voice instantly kicking me into action. I darted forward and slid into a crouch, pressing my side against the concrete wall and peeking around the corner. Through the dangling strips of plastic stretching across the entrance to the adjacent room, I saw Leo and Donnie laying on the floor.

"Well don't let them hit your skin," the leader replied. "Let's go! Let's move!" They scrambled to their feet, simultaneously drawing their weapons and spinning their backs toward the approaching Foot soldiers as they opened fire. I drew a flap of plastic away to provide myself with an opening. My gaze zeroed in on the closest soldier's gun and I drew a kunai back over my shoulder, then snapped it forward and sent the knife clean into the muzzle of the assault rifle, effectively halting the steady stream of darts he was firing.

"What the–?" He looked down at it, barely having any time to be confused before the turtles attacked.

Donnie twirled his bō above his head, brining it down upon them and batting them to the ground. Leo was a whirlwind of movement, spinning and striking his blades out to collide with their guns and causing the men to fall with the mere force of the blow against their firearms. They moved so quickly on their feet I feared if I launched another knife I might hit one of them without meaning to.

Voices stemmed from behind me. I glanced back, finding a trio of Foot solider approaching Mikey, who stood in front of the monitor wall with his nunchucks in-hand. Worry for the youngest brother washed over me.

"What's up, brah?" He asked, spinning his nunchucks to nonchalantly deflect a burst of darts. "Oh, you think you can handle this, huh?" He deflected another and ran toward them. "I'm a snapping turtle, fool!" He vaulted over the couch in the living area and spun in midair, yelling "snap, snap, snap!" for each time he kicked them all in the face before landing ungracefully on his back. I couldn't help my small smile as I turned back to the other brothers, finding Raphael had joined the fray while I'd been preoccupied with watching Michelangelo.

I drew another kunai back and watched carefully for an opening within their battle-frenzied movement.

 _There!_ I flicked the knife forward as quickly as I could manage and watched it fly straight into a Foot soldier's trigger finger. He yelled a curse and was promptly smacked in the face by a nunchuck as Mikey arrived. I cast a nervous glance toward the dojo, only to have any worry relieved when I found Splinter pummelling a group of Footclan soldiers with close-to no effort, so I returned my attention to the brothers.

My breath caught in my throat when the drumming sound of heavy-booted footsteps sounded behind me.

 _Shit shit shit._ I glanced around desperately for a different hiding spot and darted into the huge space behind the monitor wall that housed the comm centre and a skateboard ramp along the length of the back wall. I took a deep breath and slipped a kunai into each hand.

 _Calm_.

The footsteps grew louder as they approached.

 _You got this. It's just like sparring with Raph._

I dove into the ancient ocean of memories within my mind and rushed out to meet my enemies. My elbow quickly found the first guy's face, immediately sending him stumbling back into a second solider with a loud curse. A third guy rushed toward me but I whipped my kunai with as much force as I could muster—one at his foot and the other at his trigger finger. While he yelped in pain, I wrenched the gun from the first guy's grasp and whacked him in the side with it. He crumpled to the floor with a groan, revealing the Foot soldier behind him to have his gun leveled at me.

 _Fuck_.

I instantly dropped to the ground right as he opened fire, and I mean I _literally_ dropped like a log. The impact was absorbed mostly by my right forearm and hip, causing an almost numbing sensation to spread through the jarred, now-bruised bones. Gritting my teeth against the scorching pain, I rolled to avoid more tranq darts. But they were never fired.

And suddenly, somebody was yelling at me. Suddenly, there was a sharp change in the air above me.

Thankfully, my instincts kicked in and I was rolling before I could even think to move. And then something cold skimmed my shoulder, followed by a flow of warmth and a sting like the _worst_ paper cut.

 _Oh hell no._ I glanced to the side, my gaze falling on soldier number three, whom I'd thrown my kunai at earlier. There was no hesitation when I picked up the knife he'd thrown at me and whipped it back into his foot where the other still was. Then I scrambled closer and kicked his legs out from under him, causing him to fall backward with a satisfying thump.

I got to my feet and glared down a him. _Dick._

"Holy shit, dudette." I jumped and spun around, my eyes finding Mikey standing over the unconscious second soldier. "Are you okay?" He asked.

"I'm fine, don't worry." I bent down, hurriedly yanking the knives from the guy's foot and wiping clean the blood-coated tips on his clothing.

"Okay good, come on, I have a place for you to hide," he said rushing toward me.

"What? Noway, I'm gonna keep fighting," I argued, stepping out of his reach. "Didn't you just see me?"

"Yeah girl, it was awesome! But Leo–"

"Tangos at two!"

 _Shit._ I adjusted my grip on a kunai and peeked around the turtle's large frame to pitch it at one of the approaching Foot soldiers. As they began firing an onslaught of darts, Mikey wrapped his arms around me and rushed us behind the monitor wall for cover.

"Just don't get hurt or Leo'll kill me!" He said, releasing me and rushing back into the open with a battle cry.

 _Leo can suck it the hell up,_ I decided firmly, and ran to the other end of the skateboard-ramp-space with fresh knives in my hands. And I had intentions to refrain from engaging in any more close combat but I really had no choice but to kick some ass when one of those pricks snuck past the brothers and fired a tranq dart into my back. I think I managed to pull it out before too much made it into my bloodstream, but I still must've been feeling a little strange considering I barely even registered the sudden collapse of the fan room, _or_ Leo suddenly running off. Though Donnie was quick to notice my state despite being in the middle of fending off two soldiers.

"Are you alright?" He called, spinning his bō incredibly fast to deflect two separate streams of darts.

"Fine!" I yelled back. "Don't worry!"

"Donnie!" Leo yelled.

"Hang on Leo!" His brother replied. "Be right there!" My gaze swung in the direction of Splinter's room, finding Leonardo sprawled helplessly on the ground while a quartet of Footclan men held their weird baton-staffs—which apparently doubled as electric prods—over his body, sending cruel pulses of constant electricity though him.

Anger coursed through me at the sight. _Those fucking assholes!_

"I got it!" I yelled, rushing from my hiding spot and whipping a kunai at the closest enemy. The blade sunk into the man's hand, causing him to yelp in pain and drop his electric prod. I quickly scooped his fallen weapon from the ground and rammed it into his face. Before his body had even hit the ground I was spinning to take out another, but a loud, metallic clang resonated through the air. And if it had originated from anywhere but from the dojo, I wouldn't have worried. But because I knew Splinter was in there, I immediately halted and turned to check on him.

And my heart stopped.

Because there he was.

There was the Shredder in his beastly, mechanical armour; tossing Sensei onto the dais in the centre of the dojo.

There was the leader of the Footclan, marching toward the mutant rat's exhausted body and lifting his blades.

And there was Splinter, raising his head to gaze defiantly at Shredder—his executioner.

 **AN: I AM SO SORRY YOU GUYS. I HAD NO IDEA THIS CHAPTER WOULD TAKE THIS FREAKING LONG TO WRITE. I mean it was going pretty well in the first little bit but then I had to change a bunch of stuff and that screwed up my flow and then yeah, I'm not very good at writing action scenes so that didn't help either lol. But it's finally up and idk if I'll be able to get the next one up this Thursday because I have a bunch of exams this week and finals to study for and I'm putting a lot of time into my other story (it gets priority because I desperately need to get my writing vibe back).**

 **So yeah, I apologize in advance as well as for my past, shitty updates. And I'd also like to thank all of you for putting up with it and continuing to support me! You guys are awesome! Thank you all so much! :D**

 **Please leave me a review, I love hearing all of your thoughts!**


	50. 49 The Aftermath of Defeat

My mind was screaming at me to _do something!_ To _help him!_ And I tried to think of something but my brain was nothing more than an utterly useless mush. Angrily, I clenched my fists, gripping the electric prod harder and–

 _Wait. An_ electric _prod._

"Raiya!" Leo's desperate voice drew me from whatever strange trance I'd been suspended in, and I was suddenly hyperaware of an approaching enemy from behind. My instincts kicked in and before I knew it, I was spinning a full 360° with the prod extended to whack my attacker in the head. The Foot soldier dropped to the ground.

I wasted no time in raising the prod above my shoulder like a javelin and throwing it with as much force as I could manage. It struck the back of the Shredder's armour and sent courses of bright, shocking blue snaking across his entire body. He yelled in pain and convulsed beneath the electricity's temporary grasp, allowing Splinter a few moments to recover and get to his feet.

My lips turned upwards in a triumphant smirk. _Yeah, I hope that fuckin hurts, asshole._

Though my success we short lived, as I almost immediately felt a sensation like a million scorching pencils jabbing my back. And that was only the beginning.

The muscles in my back jolted and contracted of their own accord as my skin burned and itched painfully from each pulse of electricity. I tried to move but my body's only response was to crumple to the ground in a writhing ball of agony. An awful soreness was instantly curling around my back and gradually spreading to my stomach, arms, neck and legs while they continued to twitch and move of their own accord.

Dimly, I was aware of yelling. Though my focus was more on the raging pulse emanating from my burning heart.

And through all the pain of my convulsing, unresponsive muscles beneath each searing charge of electricity, I thought, _they're going to kill me. Those bastards are actually trying to kill me. And I can't stop them...I'm gonna die._

And my world fell into darkness.

••• 影の秘密 •••

I woke to an explosion.

The entirety of the lair shook from the charges, giving me a split-second's warning before the walls and roof exploded, shooting cement projectiles into the air.

Forcing my aching muscles to cooperate, I rolled so I was curled up against the closest wall and hoped that I wouldn't get nailed by any flying cement. My body burned and my vision was hazy, though I suppose it could've been due to the heavy dust suspended in the air. I waited a few moments with my head tucked down and my knees drawn to my stomach, praying that the lair wouldn't collapse on me following the explosions. Thankfully, it held steady.

I released a breath and raised my head, surveying the irreparable damage dealt to the turtles' home–

 _Oh my god._

"Leo!" I called, coughing on inhaled dust. "Donnie!" I leaned against the wall, wincing past the soreness in my legs as I got to my feet. "Mikey! Raph!" The only reply was a deathly silence offered by the once-sanctuary. "Splinter!" But there was only more silence. Frustrated tears burned at the corners of my eyes, both from the pain and the loss of the turtles. I had _no idea_ what happened, _no idea_ where everyone was or if they were okay or _what._ I didn't know anything! With a defeated, shaky cry, I leaned back against the wall and pressed my hands to my grime-coated face.

 _What do I do? ...What the hell do I do!?_

 _Just... Calm._ In an attempt to collect myself, I released a breath of air uneasily and ran my fingers down through my wildly tangled hair.

"What do I do?" I whispered, wishing the concrete would supply me with an answer, or the silence would just _stop being silent!_

And then I heard something.

The low, echoey sound of concrete toppling over itself at last breaking the deafening silence. I looked up, narrowing the source of the noise to the fan room; the fan room that I hadn't known had collapsed until then. But at the moment, my main concern was trying to figure out what the hell could possibly be moving those humongous chunks of fallen concrete. I curled my fingers around a kunai, hoping my muscles would perform properly if I ended up needing to defend myself.

Through the hazey air, a massive _thing_ rose from beneath the concrete.

Panic began to settle in my stomach. _What the hell…?_ Unsure of what to expect, I flexed my fingers along the kunai's leather grip and watched in both awe and confusion as the thing kept rising and rising and–

My breath caught in my throat as I recognized the stance, the muscular arms and the shell.

I almost choked on his name in relief. "Raph?"

The turtle's head snapped around, his gaze landing on me. "Raiya? The hell's going on?" He asked, navigating his way across the fan room's rocky terrain of concrete and rebar.

"I dunno," I shrugged, returning the weapon to my belt. "I woke up to the lair exploding. What the hell happened to you?"

"Collapsed the fan room," he muttered, looking around the ruined lair in annoyance. "You?"

I gritted my teeth angrily. "Electrocuted."

Raphael shook his head. _"Bastards,"_ he growled, eyes scanning his surroundings. "We need to–" He stopped abruptly. I frowned, tracking his suddenly distraught stare to the dojo.

"What?" I asked, pulling myself along the wall toward the archway.

"Sensei," he breathed, rushing forward into the dojo.

 _Sensei!? Oh my god, he's still here!? But he never replied to me! Is he…oh my god, no, is he dead?_ My heart dropped when I laid eyes on the mutant rat encased in a mound of concrete. Raphael was desperately digging his master out, tossing aside the massive concrete slabs as if they weighed nothing. Forcing myself to move despite my uncooperative muscles and aching bones, I hurried to Splinter's room where I knew a first aid kit resided.

"Bring him over here!" I called, pulling the kit off the shelf and wrenching it open.

 _Let's hope I remember something,_ I thought, scanning the contents and trying to recall everything Olivia taught me.

"You know what you're doing?" Raphael asked, hurrying into the room with Splinter's limp body cradled in his arms.

"Let's hope so," I admitted grimly, watching the turtle gently lay his father down on the low table. And still, Splinter reminded motionless. "Is he–?"

"He's _fine,_ " Raph snapped, hovering above him apprehensively.

 _Alright._ Returning to digging through the kit in search of something I knew how to use properly, I began to seriously regret tuning out Liv whenever she was talking to me about her job at the hospital.

"Do you have any idea what you're doing?" He demanded.

 _Sort of. Not really._ "Shut up," I muttered.

"You don't know first aid!?" He roared, tearing his full attention from his Sensei to me.

I glared up at him irritably. "Do _you!?_ " I countered heatedly. "You're the one who owns a _goddamn_ _first aid kit!_ " Raphael glowered daggers at me, but at the moment I didn't care—not one, tiny bit.

And then, as if rising from the dead, Splinter spoke in gasping breaths. "R-Raphael?"

Immediately, the mutant spun around and returned to his master's side. "I'm here," he said, his green eyes skipping over the rat worriedly. My heart wrenched painfully in my chest and I returned to searching for pain medication or _something_.

 _Why the hell does this stupid box not have any Advil?_

"You must save your brothers," Splinter breathed, his voice weakening, "stop Shredder."

 _Morphine!_ I grabbed the labelled vial of clear liquid and snatched a syringe while skimming over the recommended dosages. _Okay, just like I've seen Liv do it._ I pulled the guard off the needle and sunk it carefully in through the vial's lid.

 _Okay,_ I slowly filled the syringe, _now I need a vein to stick this in._ Recalling that IV's are usually in the left arm in movies, I hurried to Splinter's other side and pulled the syringe from the bottle just as an alarm started blaring from the monitor wall. I looked up, meeting Raphael's gaze before he hurried over to check it out.

"Okay, this might feel a little weird at first but it's gonna help," I said, kneeling down beside Splinter.

"Th-thank you, Raiya," the rat murmured in response. I smiled despite the crushing grief pressing down on me and—with a quick prayer that I wouldn't screw this up—I carefully inserted the needle into a prominent vein in his forearm and pushed the pain medication out of the syringe. Splinter relaxed and released a small breath, which I decided to take as a good sign.

I got to my feet, already feeling more steady than I had a few minutes ago when I first woke up.

"Donnie set off one of his trackers," Raph announced, his eyes watching me tidy the mess I'd made of the first aid kit.

"Go, Raphael," Splinter urged, his exhausted voice barely more than a whisper. My gaze swung back to the turtle, awaiting his decision even though I already knew what he'd decided.

It was written in his determined, fiery gaze; in his taut muscles and his passionate tone.

"Let's go save my brothers."

 **AN: Ugh, sorry you guys I've been studying like a madwoman for like two days now but it totally paid off because I just crushed my final (one down and three to go!) lol but hallelujah I** ** _finally_** **managed to finish this chapter and I'm excited to hear what everyone thought of it.**

 **I also want to thank all my reviewers, you guys are so sweet and I love all of you! Thank you and please leave me some more! I love reading them, they seriously make my day :)**


	51. 50 To The Rescue

"I can get us a ride," I offered, an idea already springing to mind.

"From who?" Raphael asked, caution lining his tone.

"My uncle," I said, closing up the first aid kit and pulling my phone from the pocket on my leggings. I was amazed it'd remained in my pocket throughout the entire battle and had only sustained damage in the form of a few cracks across it's screen.

"No."

I recoiled in shock, looking up to meet the turtle's gaze in confusion. "What? Why the hell not?" I demanded.

"Because that's stupid," he deadpanned, spinning and heading towards the dojo.

 _Is he serious right now?_ I narrowed my eyes at his poor argument. "Well do _you_ have any ideas?" I called, chasing after him.

"Yeah. Steal a truck," he said, picking a bunch of weapons off the wet concrete that I recognized as his brothers', meaning they must be weaponless while imprisoned by the Foot. I would have been more worried about them, but at the moment Raphael was unbelievably pissing me off. Again.

"Oh my god," I muttered. "And somehow _I'm_ the one with the stupid idea? Seriously?"

Raphael growled and if it was possible, he seemed to tower above me even more than usual. "Well you're not telling anyone about us either so what are you gonna do?"

"I'm gonna _ask_ him to borrow a _car_ so I can go hang out with a _friend,_ " I explained fiercely, following him through the jagged hole blown in the weapons wall by the Footclan.

"It's still a bad idea," he argued, turning down a sewer tunnel.

I sighed sharply. "Well it's better than yours."

He scoffed. "Not really." Gritting my teeth, I shoved him with as much force as I could manage, effectively stopping the turtle in his tracks.

"Would you just shut up?" I snapped, earning myself an irritated, incredulous stare. "The Foot already has a head start on us, and considering we have no idea what they plan on doing to the guys, I suggest we hurry our asses and take some chances if it means we can save their lives. And _this_ is the fastest option."

His burning emerald eyes narrowed in speculation. "What do you plan on telling him?"

"Just that I'm gonna go see a friend."

He lifted a brow in curiosity. " _You_ have a friend?"

"Yes," I hissed. _Why is that so hard to believe?_ With narrowed eyes, Raphael searched my expression for any minuscule amount of uncertainty or pause, but couldn't find any because I _did_ have a friend. Even though I'd just met Casey Jones a few days ago and only spoken with him once, it still counted.

"Who?"

 _Wow. Wouldn't you like to know._ I rolled my eyes and began walking again. "You know you're not the only guy I make time to see," I said with a smirk, knowing exactly what kind of reaction I'd get out of him. Raphael thundered after me, his tense silence an indication of his anger. _Good._ I lifted my phone to shoot Uncle Tom a text and instantly earned myself an interrogation from Raph.

"What are you doing?" He demanded, watching my phone screen carefully.

"Chill out," I said, displaying my phone to him as proof of my innocence. "I'm just texting my uncle to let him know I'm on my way." Taking his silence as an approval of sorts, I quickly began typed out a message and sent it off to him.

"Okay," I returned the phone to my pocket and turned turned down a diverging tunnel my mind seemed to recognize. "We should hurry."

Raphael quickened his pace and followed uncertainly. "You know where you're going?"

"Mostly," I admitted, feeling quite confident that I'd be able to find my way based on memory. "I walked from flight training to the lair with Leo on Tuesday, so I think I can figure it out." I scanned the tunnel walls for any familiar markings or graffiti.

"Well that's reassuring," he muttered.

With a steady, calming breath, I reined in my annoyance and kept quiet. Today was not a day to waste time over arguing—not when my friends were in danger. Upon feeling a vibration, I took my phone out and read uncle Tom's reply.

"What'd he say?" He asked, trying to peek at the screen.

"He's not home," I said, scanning his message with a grin. Raphael yelled in frustration, making me jump out of my skin and watch in horror as he launched a fist into the nearest wall.

"What the hell!?" I cried, staring at the cracks spiderwebbing from the crater he created. Panting, Raphael cast a furious gaze to me, his eyes burning with enraged, green flames. "Don't just punch shit!" I shouted scoldingly. Shaking my head as if he were a toddler that couldn't grasp a simple concept, I began compiling another message for Uncle Tom using the excuse Raph agreed upon.

"This is good," I explained, picking up my already brisk walking pace. "I can walk in there no problem without him questioning my zombie appearance or asking a million questions."

He huffed. "Great. Can we hurry?"

"One sec... Walking and texting is one thing, but _running_ and texting is like a whole other level of sketch." I sent the finished text and put my phone away before increasing my speed to a purposeful jog while awkwardly clutching the first aid kit to my chest. I wouldn't have brought the stupid thing unless I needed to, and I knew I had to clean the cut on my shoulder and maybe even take some morphine to dull the aches I was sure to feel again sometime soon. Then what if me or the turtles needed bandaging after we broke them out of Footclan prison? So as irritating and inconvenient as it was to bring, I deemed it an equally good idea.

It wasn't long before my phone buzzed again, alerting me to another reply from Uncle Tom. I pulled the device from my pocket, slowing my pace a bit to keep from tripping or running into a nasty wall. Raphael dropped back to my side, waiting to hear the text as well. My eyes scanned it quickly, a grin spreading across my face.

"Nice," I looked up at him excitedly. "He said I can take whichever vehicle I want."

Raphael's brow creased. "How many does he have?"

"I dunno, at least five."

"Seriously?"

I laughed. "Yeah. We probably could've taken the helicopter if you'd let me tell him what's _really_ going on." The turtle shot me a look that said _wow, how unfortunate._

"I'm actually a really good pilot," I said, sending my uncle a _thank you_ text and returning my phone to my pocket. "I'm much better at flying than driving. Actually," I grimaced, remembering something crucial. "…I don't even _have_ my license."

"What?"

 **AN: Yo that took forever and it's barely even 1000 words :/ sorry guys lol. BUT HEY WE FINALLY HIT 50 CHAPTERS! I'd guess there's about 8 more chapters left of TSS. How crazy is that!?**

 **So I'm back in school again which sucks lol and I actually have photography homework because apparently that's a thing? Lmao idk, but yeah I'm so happy to only have two cores this sem.**

 **Ew this chapter was hella boring haha sorry y'all gotta wait another week for some more action, I'll try to get it up on time (maybe even earlier if I put some extra effort in) but no promises!**

 **Thank you all so much for all the reviews and please keep them coming! Love you guys! :)**


	52. 51 Wounded and Broken

"Quit moving around," I scolded, feeling the car jostle yet again.

From the backseat, Raphael growled unhappily and at last settled. "It's not my fault this thing was built for humans, not mutants." His statement sounded accusatory.

"Well it's not my fault uncle Tom's least favourite car happened to be this tiny ass thing," I muttered, glancing in my mirrors before changing lanes. "For all I know, it's gonna get blown up so I figured it'd be the best one to accidentally destroy." I ignored his grumbling complaints with gritted teeth and clenched fingers. Raph was beginning to piss me off to such a degree that I almost forgot to be scared of driving on my own for the first time. Usually, I'd practice with Liv in parking lots or on remote dirt roads she'd drive out to. It was a miracle that I hadn't caused an accident yet, or that uncle Tom either didn't know I was without my license, or simply didn't care.

Glancing down at the vehicle's GPS I'd inputted the tracker's coordinates into, I found that I'd missed my turn.

"What the hell!? Why'd the thing not tell me to fucking turn!?" A loud, irritated sigh sounded from the backseat, and I was half-tempted to slam on the brakes. "Would you shut up?" I hissed, tapping the GPS screen madly to recalculate the fastest route. "I'm doing the best I can and you're being an annoying asshat."

"I didn't say anything," he argued indignantly.

By some grace of god, I found the strength not to kill him. And we managed to drive in a tense silence for a total of five minutes before he exploded.

"Why the hell are you driving so goddamn slow!?"

"Because if we _goddamn_ get pulled over for speeding, the freaking cops will taser your ass and throw you into Area Fifty-One or some shit! Not to mention what'll happen to me and my family, dumbass! Now would you _please_ shut up?" I waited for around smart-ass remark, but received nothing. _Thank god._

"Once we left the city and traded narrow, jammed streets to mostly deserted roads with a shoulder, my stress began to steadily evaporate. The GPS hadn't failed me since I'd yelled at it after missing another turn and discovered the volume wasn't on. So that was good at least. But there was still a tension the air between us that hadn't been present in a while; familiar but so I figured that now—while Raphael's confined within a small vehicle—was the best opportunity I'd have to set things right before whatever we had became hopelessly unsaveable.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, glancing at the terrapin in the rearview mirror. He exhaled through his nose and turned his gaze toward a tinted window. Taking the hint, I looked away as well, but I wouldn't give up. I knew he was beneath that rage. Somewhere. And I was going to reach him however I could. So I took a deep breath and spoke the truth. "I'm just afraid." And I know you are too. "I don't want to lose anyone else. I...can't handle that feeling again." Another deep breath. "Does Donnie still have any of that amnesia stuff?"

"What? Why?"

"For Liv." I felt his sharp gaze swing back to me, but I didn't meet it. I didn't say anything either, just let the words and their meaning sink into him.

"It was a few minutes before he asked again, "Why?"

"Because it's what you want," I said.

"I never said that," he growled, making it close to impossible to discern his words.

"Really? Because I recall you saying that you don't want her knowing anything." I snapped, allowing some frustration to peak through my calm demeanour.

"I don't."

"Well if you don't want Liv to forget then what _do_ you want? _Me_ to forget?" I looked in the rearview mirror, trying to catch a glimpse of his reaction, but his face was turned away. "I can drop you off, then go back to the lair and take some and Liv will be too busy dealing with me to care about you," I shrugged. "You'll never have to see me again." His muscles tensed, letting me know I'd struck a nerve, either because I was simply annoying him or he was angry at my suggestion, in which case he cared. I prayed desperately it was the latter. "Or–"

"Would you–!?" He stopped. Raph actually stopped himself mid-yell. I almost swerved the car into the ditch from shock. He gritted his teeth. "Just _stop_."

 _That's progress. It has to be._ It was probably a terrible decision, but I had to push him. "Why?" His only reply was silence. Again. So I resorted to begging. "Raph, _please_ just talk to me."

"The hell you want me to say?" He hissed. I could practically hear the words running through his mind, _she betrayed me she betrayed me she betrayed me_. It was so hateful and so deafening I felt as if my head and ears might burst.

"I don't know!" I cried, curling my fingers tightly around the steering wheel in frustration. "I just want you to understand and I don't know how to do that! I'm so... _afraid_. Of losing people I care about. And...I'm _so_ afraid I'm gonna lose you or the brothers or Splinter right now and I just couldn't ha sleep it if I did. But I–" I breathed shakily, steeling myself to unlock every barrier and topple every wall I'd built up. If I wanted to fix this mess I'd have to spill my shattered heart out to him wether he wanted to hear it or not. "I feel like you're already gone," I whispered. "And it's _killing_ me. Okay? I can feel myself falling to pieces and the only thing holding me together right now is the hope that _maybe_ I can reach you. But the more you ignore me the farther away I feel and I'm so _fucking_ scared to lose you because somehow you're someone to me and the last time I lost someone I cared about I...lost a part of myself. You know what that feels like?" I waited for a response I knew I'd never get. "It feels like dying. Like a part of your heart is ripped away and you're slowly bleeding out and you feel so hopeless and like _nobody_ in the _world_ can understand your pain. I can't feel that again." I blinked hard. _Don't cry. Don't you dare._

"Pull over," he ordered.

 _"What?"_

"I said _pull over_ , Raiya. You're bleeding."

 _What?_ I glanced to my shoulder, grimacing when I saw bright blood stains looked around the cut on my shoulder and running down my hoodie sleeve. "Shit." _I forgot about that._ Barely even glancing in my mirrors, I quickly pulled to the shoulder, praying nobody would stop and check if we were okay. Putting the car into park strained my shoulder, which was suddenly stinging and aching. _How the hell did I not feel it before?_

"Why would you drive if you were hurt?" Raphael muttered almost scoldingly.

"Because I'm an idiot," I snapped sarcastically, leaning over to grab the first aid kit from the passenger seat; wincing when my shoulder protested the movement.

"Jesus, you're bleedin' everywhere."

"Yeah, I _know_ ," I grumbled, throwing open the kit and searching for bandages. "My hoodie's ruined."

"You're worried about your hoodie?"

"Do you have _any_ idea how soft this one is?"

"No. And I don't really give a shit either. Now could you hurry?"

I spun in my seat, unable to contain my heated glare. "Could you shut up?" I retorted. Raphael's jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed at me in irritation. But he didn't say a word. _Good._ I glanced down at my shoulder, sighing at the amount of blood covering the torn fabric. Biting my lip against the pain, I peeled the bloodied sleeve from my arm and carefully slipped it off.

"Raiya, what–!?" With a groan and what appeared to be fluster, Raphael hurriedly spun his shell toward me. "What the hell!?" He demanded.

"Oh god, I'm not even wearing a provocative bra," I peered closer at my cut, "grow up. This is the only way I can bandage it without cutting up my shirt." I almost wanted to laugh at the turtle's embarrassment but he'd probably intentionally punch my injury, so I decided against it.

Thankfully, the first aid kit had a small bottle of rubbing alcohol to clean out my stupid cut, plus a bunch of cotton pads and a random cloth the turtles must've thrown in there when they'd constructed it. I laid the cloth down on the centre console and soaked a few cotton pads in alcohol, then forced myself to press them against my cut and clean away all the surrounding blood. To contain the pain, I bit my tongue to the point that I tasted the coppery tone of blood. The stinging subsided after a few moments, and the flow of blood from the cut was minimizing already. I picked up a section of gauze, but I knew I couldn't tape it to my shoulder one-handed.

"Hey, I need to borrow your hands," I called, looking toward the mutant who'd remained with his shell to me the entire time. With a sigh, he turned around and—making a point to look anywhere but my chest—quickly picked up the gauze pad.

"I have no clue what I'm doing," he admitted with a low grumble, surveying the injury.

"Just cut a square yay big," I pointed to my cut. "And tape it over my stupid cut." Thankfully, the task was fairly straightforward and I didn't have to walk him through it too much. But then it came to bandaging.

"Just...wrap it a bunch of times around my shoulder at different angles," I advised, "kinda tight but not tight enough to cut circulation and make my arm fall asleep."

"Great," he mumbled, reaching out to my arm. "That's really helpful."

I sighed calmingly. "I can talk you through it. Start the wrap here," I moved my injured arm farther from my side to provide accessibility and tapped my armpit. Raph hesitated. "Kay, just give it to me," I wiggled my fingers until he handed me the end of the bandage to hold. "Okay, now wrap it once and I'll tell you if it's too tight." He did as told, pulling it tighter than necessary over my covered cut. I hissed and his gaze shot to me for a nanosecond. "Sorry," he mumbled, fixing his mistake and continuing around with my advice until a decent wrapping was in place and holding with promise.

"Good?"

"Yeah," I pulled my arm away and moved it experimentally. "Thanks. Probably won't be able to throw any kunai, though." I began gathering the medical supplies to pile back in the kit.

"Can't use your left?" Raph asked.

"I dunno, haven't tried it," I admitted sheepishly, looking down at my functional hand and flexing my fingers. _What the–?_ I squinted at my wrist, at a tiny reddened patch of skin. _When did I–?_ I sucked in a panicked breath, my mind reeling backward a few days. To that night at the dock. That girl—Karai. That sting. That–

 _Oh shit._

 **AN: I wish I had a good excuse as to why this took me almost two months but tbh it's literally just the worst writer's block. This chapter was really hard for me to write, which is weird because I've actually been looking forward to writing this scene for ever now. But anyways, after I got through the first half everything started flowing and the next thing I know I've stayed up until 1 am to finish it! Hallelujah! It turned out pretty good though, right? I really freaking hope so considering it's taken me this long lmao.**

 **I'm really sorry you guys, idk why I'm like this but it's like I'll be stuck trying to write past one sentence for weeks and I just can't do it but once I do I'm on a roll until I hit another impassable sentence and it's just a ridiculous cycle. It's honestly killing me and I wish I could force myself to write past it but I don't want to waste time and effort writing a shitty chapter just to update on time, you know?**

 **Once again, I'm really sorry about another terribly late update. I'm trying my hardest to write as much as I can whenever I can. I'm on Spring Break until next Tuesday so I'm hoping to catch up on my stories as much as I can.**

 **Anyways, thank you all for your incredible patience! I love you all and please review! I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)**


	53. 52 Bugged

_Shit shit shit shit shit. He's gonna kill me. He's_ actually _gonna kill me this time._

Raph noticed my sudden panic. "What?" He pressed.

"Give me your knife," I breathed. "There's a tracker in my wrist."

"A _what?_ "He spat.

I stared at that little patch of red skin on the soft skin of my inner wrist. "A tracker."

"Why the _hell_ do you have a tracker in you!?" He shouted.

"I don't _fucking_ know!" I yelled back, getting up in his face with a furious glare. Like the stubborn guy he was, he refused to back away, so we remained with our eyes locked and our faces inches apart. But I wouldn't be the one to back down either, so I waited until he spoke.

"It's my knife," he growled, " _I'm_ cutting it out."

I lifted a brow and shrugged. "Fine." He backed off, and I allowed that small victory to claim a smile on my lips. Irritated, Raphael sighed, shook his head and slipped his knife from the strap running across his chest. I propped my elbow up on the centre console, still covered with a dirty cloth that—based on the material and texture—had once been a towel, and slid down far in my seat. He watched me in confusion.

"The hell are you doing?"

"Making sure my wrist is above my heart. It'll help lessen the blood flow," I explained, racking my brain for any other remedies Liv had told me about so long ago. "Wait!" I lurched forward, throwing open the glove compartment and searching through the array of random items within, praying and praying uncle Tom had–yes! Score! I extracted the mini bottle of Advil with a flourish, forever grateful my uncle was a paranoid mother, always prepared with his trusty ibuprofen.

"What's that gonna do?"

"It's a blood thinner," I said, shaking pills out into my palm. "It should help a little with stopping the bleeding." I managed to force three down my throat before Raph began to silently freak out and demand I stop. I dry swallowed another, purely to piss him off. It was worth it.

"Are you done now?" He hissed through clenched teeth.

I smiled sweetly, setting my elbow back on the towel and sitting low in my seat. "Unless you want to help me build a tourniquet, then yes." In answer, he took my arm in his grasp, peering closer and twisting it around almost painfully.

 _"Ow,"_ I muttered pointedly. His angry gaze lifted to me.

"Well do you have a light?"

Yawning, I pointed stiffly with my other hand at the roof, drawing his attention upward where several lights were spaced. Muttering something bitter I didn't catch, he switched on every light, casting a yellow glow over the interior of the car that mixed oddly with the bight orange from the rising sun. _Holy shit, I stayed up all night_ , I realized in surprise, another yawn threatening to escape. Blinking away the exhaustion creeping up on me, I watched Raphael curiously. With a sharp flick of his wrist, the blade snapped out, singing as it cut through the air. My heart thundered in my chest anxiously, my whole arm shivering from the metal's icy touch upon my wrist.

Though I feared his answer, I forced my lips to form the words. "Do you know what your doing?" I asked warily.

"...Yep."

 _Oh god._ "You hesitated," I argued breathlessly, my stomach turning and heart doubling in pace.

"Don't worry," he mumbled, "I found it."

 _Seriously?_ I shifted in my seat, about to crane my head around to see for myself when I felt the sharp bite of the blade break skin and plunge into my wrist. I flinched and involuntarily clenched my fingers into a tight fist. Crude bolts of pain lanced down my arm. And despite the iciness of the knife, burning heat flooded my wrist and trickled down my forearm. I didn't have to turn and look to know it was blood. _My_ blood; flowing freely without pause. A scene flashed before my eyes, of a bloody battle field littered with bodies. Of a smirking man's face before I lost all feeling in my hand. Despite attempts to compose myself, I felt panic beginning to cloud my senses.

"Calm down," Raph murmured, "slow your pulse and relax." Slowly, audibly, he inhaled through his nose. Then exhaled. _For me_. Without hesitation, I synchronized our breathing. Hoping to steal my focus from the harsh pain, I pressed my eyes shut and forced all my attention on just _breathing_. Just Raphael and our matching breaths.

As I began to worry over why he hadn't cut the damn thing out yet, Raph released a relieved sigh and the icy blade was gone, replaced with a hot flood. Cursing, he quickly pressed a wad of gauze to the gash. I was able o contain my pained gasp. Steeling myself for the sight of my own, gushing blood, I turned and used my other hand to squeeze my arm just below my bandaged shoulder.

"Restricts blood flow through the artery," I explained before Raphael could demand me to. Though he appeared so focused on keeping pressure on my wrist that I don't think he even acknowledged me _or_ my statement.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Raph lifted the gauze and revealed my latest injury. I wrinkled my nose distastefully at the amount of dried, red-brown blood surrounding my future scar.

"I'm gonna fucking kill her," I muttered.

Raphael glanced up at me with a smirk on his face. "Karai?"

"Yeah. She must've bugged me that night at the docks, right before you found me." I shook my head angrily, scolding myself for letting it happen so easily. _Fuckin bitch. She's gonna regret doing that._

Raph grabbed a new gauze pad and began to tape it over the cut, being extra careful to ensure the bleeding wouldn't resume.

I watched him work silently, biting my lip and saying, "I'm sorry. All this is my fault, I led them to you guys... Fuck, I should've _known!_ " Suppressing a frustrated groan, I pressed a hand to my forehead. "I should've known the second Karai admitted they were using me in the subway. And now…" I rubbed my eyes, drying them before tears could form. "God, I'm so sorry, Raph. You were right about humans." There was a pause in his rhythm of bandaging. Barely discernible and only for a moment, but it was there. I could sense the conflict in him, I knew he hesitated because he wanted to say something. But it was only for a moment, and then he was wrapping my wrist again like nothing had ever crossed his mind.

For a second, I felt even more demoralized than before. But only for a second.

"It isn't your fault," Raphael said quietly, tying the bandage off firmly.

Lifting my hand from my face, I met his green eyes hopefully. And I knew that was his way of accepting my apology. A tiny smile fell on my lips. I could feel the familiarity that was once between us trickling back, however slowly.

I looked away first, down at the bloody towel and knife. A scarlet-stained object that appeared to be a sharpened pencil lead laid there as well. The urge to smash it was almost overwhelming.

"Toss it," he advised. "They might think we haven't found it yet." I rolled down the passenger side window and chucked it outside into the ditch. Then picked up his butterfly knife, wiped my blood off it's blade, and handed it back to him.

"Thank you."

Raphael nodded. "Sure. Can you drive?"

I pulled my hoodie on carefully, wincing when I had to move my shoulder in a way that stretched the bandaged wound. "Not really," I started the car, pulling back onto the road jerkily. "But now's as good a time as any to become ambidextrous!"

 **AN: KISS! KISS! KISS! Lmao this was about to be a kiss scene but then I was like naahhhh haha don't hate me tho, I'm saving their first kiss for something hella cute! But hey! I managed to get two chapters out within a week! Yay! Let's hope I can keep this ball rolling lol**

 **So I have a question that I'd really love for** ** _all_** **of my readers to answer because I value everyone's opinion and I want to try and make sure everyone is enjoying reading! WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE SECOND BOOK? It's going to follow the plot of Out of the Shadows so let me know stuff like do you want to see Casey Jones a lot or a little? Do you want to see April O'Neil? Do you want to see more of Splinter/Mikey/Donnie/Olivia etc.? Do you want a lot of or a few romance scenes between Raph and Raiya (I am not writing a lemon lol sry)? Do you want to see more friendship/romance/humour/adventure etc.? A new OC? More ninja training? Weapon suggestions for Raiya (I'm thinking of tessens)? So yeah, just stuff like that. And I think the title is going to be** ** _The Shadow's Revelation_** **but I'm not sure, so if anyone has better title ideas I'd love to hear those as well lol. Thank you and please leave some suggestions! I'd really love to see some! :D**

 **Anywho, thank you to my reviewers! I really appreciate the support and feedback from you guys! It honestly makes my day to read your reviews, so please keep them coming :)**


	54. 53 Scars of our Pasts

It was a quiet drive. And usually I liked it that way, but I was so anxious and fidgety and exhausted all at the same time and I needed something to keep my mind busy before I went crazy. So I broke the silence.

"What's the story behind that scar on your shoulder?" In the rearview mirror, I caught Raphael jerk his gaze from the window as if I'd just woken him up. He lifted his right arm, glancing down at the raised scar tissue with a lopsided half-grin.

"Mikey sliced me when we were sparring a few years ago," he shook his head, reminiscing in the memory. "Idiot was trying to use a kusarigama for the first time. When Donnie told me how bad it was gonna scar I figured I'd make something good out of it and got him to turn it into a kanji."

I grimaced. "Like _with a knife?"_

"A kama."

"So you let Donnie cut you with an axe for the sake of a cool tattoo," I summarized dryly.

"Mikey did it," he corrected.

 _Mikey? Of all the brothers, why would he let_ Mikey _do it?_ He must've caught my confused expression in the rearview mirror.

"He's a little more artistic than Donnie," he explained. "And Leo wouldn't've let me if he knew about it."

I just about burst out laughing. "You kept it from Leo? Wouldn't that just make him angrier?"

"Sorta."

"So he was mad when he found out?"

"Yeah. But it worked out good cuz I never coulda tattooed myself with tebori anyway. _And_ it looks pretty sick."

I snorted. "Yeah. Must've hurt like hell, though."

Raph shook his head, laughing quietly to himself. "You have no idea," he said. "After it healed, Mikey went over it again. I would've had him do it a third time if Leo hadn't told Sensei about it."

"What the hell is wrong with you?" I demanded. "Why would you want it done _three_ times?"

"Why not? It makes it bigger."

I shook my head. "You're ridiculous," I muttered. "So what does it mean?"

"Fèn. It means anger, mostly."

I rolled my eyes. "How fitting. What about the one above your lip? How'd you get that?"

"Meand Leo were sparring a long time ago and he was rubbing it in my face that he won. So I wanted to go again, but with real weapons instead of bokutō."

"Bokutō?" I was too nervous to attempt sifting through my memories for the answer while driving.

"Wooden training weapons," he supplied. "When we were younger that's all Sensei would let us spar with. But I was mad I lost and bet Leo I could beat him if we were using real weapons."

 _Typical Raphael._ "Did you?"

"No. Sensei came home and stopped us."

I fell quiet for a moment, unable to imagine how angry Splinter would've been. "...So Leo sliced you?" It must've been pretty deep if it scarred so bad.

"Yeah, right after I got him."

I managed to contain my gasp. "Those scars around his eye were you?"

"Yeah," his voice was low. "I don't really remember the fight, I was so mad. I don't think I meant to hurt him, it just kinda happened. Y'know?"

I nodded solemnly. "Yeah."

"I dunno if Leo meant to or not, but he got me pretty good."

I glanced in the rearview mirror, watching as he ran his thumb over the most prominent scar, his lip, and down his chin where it continued. "Got me on both sides," he said, feeling a less noticeable scar on the other side of his lip that led to another down the other side of his chin. The quartet of scars formed a broken, almost invisible 'x'.

"Why did that one not heal?" I asked curiously.

"It was deeper than the rest, so I asked Donnie to leave it."

 _Another one?_ "Why?"

"As a reminder."

"Of what?" Maybe it was because I didn't have any of my own battle scars, but I couldn't comprehend his insistence on prominent marks.

He shrugged his broad shoulders. "To be better I guess. All my scars are there because I screwed up, so all of 'em remind me to do better next time."

I nodded, "okay, I get that. But that seems a little extreme—constantly trying to improve—don't you think? I mean, what if you get a really stupid one? Like I have one from slipping and ramming my head into my bed frame. What's that gonna remind me of? To not jump on my bed?" I snorted. "Not a very heroic reminder." _And it hasn't stopped me anyways._

"You did that?"

"Yeah," I sighed. "Scar's right below my eyebrow. And I have one on my thigh from a dog bite. But it's not stopping me from loving dogs."

He laughed lightly. "Yeah, I got one from a cat. Right on my thumb," he shook his head. "I hate cats."

I laughed. "Yeah, me too. It hardly scarred, but I got one from a cat bite on the side of my hand."

"Which one?" He asked.

I looked down at it, barely able to make out the puncture marks. "Right. Where's yours?"

"Right."

 _Huh_. "You're a rightie?"

"Mostly. You?"

I narrowed my eyes in confusion. "Um, yeah. Completely. How are you _mostly_ a rightie?"

"Ninjutsu requires ambidexterity."

"Right," I nodded, then suddenly perked up with excitement. "So I'm gonna get that too?" I nodded again to myself, answering my own question. "Sick." We drove in silence for a while, but I couldn't handle the quiet for long.

"What's your dumbest scar?" I asked.

"Uh…I dunno.…I have one on right above my plastron from tripping with my sai in my hand when I was small."

I laughed. "Nice. I have one on my neck from a hair-curling wand."

He grimaced audibly. "Ow. I got electrocuted when we were setting up cameras in the sewers."

"Ugh," I shivered involuntarily at the reminder of my recent injury. "I _hate_ getting electrocuted."

Raphael chuckled. "Yeah, it was weird. I didn't get it as bad as you though. I got another one in my palm from breaking a lightbulb Mikey and I were throwing around."

"Oh, I got this one on my arm from when Liv and I were having a lightsaber fight with sticks."

He laughed and shook his head. "You guys are weird."

"Hey! You guys are weirder!" I argued, laughing myself because I knew he was right. Liv and I were pretty strange.

"What about the one on your face?"

"Huh?"

"The scar," he repeated. "On your cheekbone."

"Oh," I shook my head and exhaled through my nose. "My stupid older cousins. When I was really young they pinned me down and pretended to cut my face like the joker. Knifeslipped and cut me."

Raphael was silent and I knew he was pitying me.

"Yeah. I have one on the bottom of my foot from stepping on a nail," I laughed at my own stupidity. "And one on my ankle from scratching myself while climbing a tree and letting it get infected."

"Aw, I got one once from messing around with Mikey and it ended up getting infected and I was really young so I thought I had to get my leg chopped off."

And we laughed at the idiocy of our past selves and told the stories of our scars.

 **AN: Yooo it's been a hella long time you guys I am so sorry omg haha. School's just been a major pain in the ass lately, like project after project and test after test and essay after essay it literally never ends. Like I have a speech in LA this week that I'm really stressed for and like three projects to for Lord of the Flies and a personal response like damn. But summer's almost here and I am so ready to do absolutely nothing lmao.**

 **So I didn't get many recommendations for the second book, which is gonna be titled The Shadow's Revelation. But that's totally cool with me lol it just means I'm gonna start writing it without knowing how much you guys wanna see of Casey Jones and April O'Neil and stuff. But there's still time for recommendations, so if you have any just leave me a review! I received one recommendation I'd never thought of and wanted everyone's input because I think it would be really cool! Would you guys like to see another OC fall in love with one of the turtles? If so, what would you like them to be like? Which turtle would you like them to fall in love with? I'm thinking maybe she could fall in love with Leo and maybe her family could be killed during the final battle with Shredder? Idk, leave some suggestions or opinions please!**

 **Also, I'd love to know how much of Casey Jones you guys would like to see! And if you'd like to see April or not!**

 **Thank you all so much for your continued support and patience! I love all of you! Keep being awesome and make sure to leave a review (maybe answer some of my questions!) :D**


	55. 54 The Sacks Estate

"Few minutes out," I announced, bringing Raphael back to the present. Instantly, he was leaning forward from the backseat and staring anxiously through the front windshield at our approaching target.

"What's the game plan?" I asked.

"What's the layout?"

I did a double take. "What?"

"The layout," Raph repeated stiffly.

I scoffed. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Because you're the _driver,_ " he said as if that was justification enough.

"Okay, we're not doing this right now," I declared. "We need to focus. The Shredder is allied with that Sacks guy, right?"

He nodded. "Eric Sacks."

"And he's super rich and I think he owns some sort of mansion or estate around here. It would make the most sense that they go there so I'd assume the 'layout' is something like a huge ass house with a courtyard, maybe a big ass garage, I dunno. But it'll be big, probably with a gate and a bunch of Foot soldiers everywhere," I glanced at him. "That good enough?"

He sighed through his nose. "No, but I'll work with it."

"Okay, and just so we can save ourselves some time, don't try to stop me from following you when we get there, because I'm going in no matter what." Raph said nothing in reply, just radiated tense waves of anxiety.

We came around a bend and there was a huge, stone mansion surrounded by full, green trees and a stone fence and electric gate. Two helicopters sat in the centre of the massive front yard, one looked like a two-passenger and the other significantly larger. Immediately, an idea came to mind.

"Ram the gate," Raphael ordered gruffly.

"Not with this little car," I retorted, searching for an alternate entrance.

He exploded. "Why not!?"

I clenched my hand around the wheel and exploded back. "Because that gate is fuckin solid, dumbass! We'll total this car and not even make it through the damn thing. We need a different entrance."

"Well do you see one!?" He demanded. I slammed my foot on the gas pedal, causing the car to lurch forward and throw Raphael backwards a little.

"Yes!" I snapped. "There's another road wrapping around the other side through the trees. So shut up."

"It better not be a dead end," he grumbled. I gritted my teeth and veered away from the Sacks estate front gate. I adjusted my grip on the wheel while slowing my speed to turn left onto a winding road that would hopefully lead to a back entrance of sorts. After rounding the second curve in the road, a wooden gate came into view.

"Ram it," Raph said, but I'd already came to that decision myself and had floored the gas pedal.

"Yeah, I _know,_ " I mumbled, my heart rate picking up as we neared the gate.

 _Please don't die, please don't die—_

Despite bracing myself and wearing a seatbelt, I still lurched forward when we made contact with the gate and tore through the wood slats. Immediately, I heard gunfire and instinctively ducked. Bullets pattered against the car and shattered the windshield.

"Ten o'clock!" Raph shouted. Blindly, heart racing, I wrenched the wheel around to what I estimated was ten o'clock. The moment I heard something crash against the bumper and roll across the hood, I slammed on the brakes. Blood thundered through my ears and I lifted my head hesitantly to look through the windshield that was no longer present, but there was no more gunfire to cower from.

"Did I hit them?" I breathed.

"Sure did." Raphael threw open the back door and jumped out, looking around wildly.

 _Right_ , I climbed out of the car as well, trying to catch my bearings. _Keep it together Raiya. You got this._ "I can get us a different ride," I said, realizing that even if uncle Tom's car wasn't damaged, all four brothers would never fit inside. I looked at Raphael. "If you aren't out by then I'll come find you."

He nodded, jaw clenched. "We will be. Just don't get yourself killed."

"You too," I said, locking my gaze with his. Raph exhaled and watched me with sad, green eyes before spinning and rushing off. I watched him crash through a wooden door and disappear into the building before I turned and scanned the courtyard for a quick route to the front yard. I drew a kunai from my belt and ran inside a hall that extended from the side of the mansion. Keeping low, I crept inside and peered around a shelf of labelled boxes and miscellaneous items.

It looked like a deserted storage area, and a door sat on the other side of the hall a few feet away. I rushed over, the kunai still gripped firmly in my left hand. I kicked the door open and it instantly hit something that yelled and cursed in surprise, then swung back toward me. I kicked the door open again to hit the guy and rushed outside, sinking my kunai into the shoulder of a Footclan soldier, then slammed the door into him for a third time and rammed my fist into his nose. He was still standing unsteadily on his feet, so I spun on my left foot and lifted my other to kick him in the face. He dropped to the concrete pathway and I leaned down to take my kunai from his shoulder before rushing past his body to the front yard.

 _Damn, that was pretty smooth,_ I thought appreciatively to myself. I stopped when I reached the front, surveying the empty grounds. Flourishing green trees lined the wall and two identical flower beds sat on either side of the yard. A concrete strip led from the front gate up to the front door and had two helicopters sitting in the middle of it.

 _If the guys don't catch him Sacks and Shredder are probably gonna try to escape in one of these. I have to get that big one before it's too late._ Glancing around the yard once more, I found that a trio of armed Foot soldiers were rushing out the front door, and with them was a man carrying a large, metal case. He looked familiar, and I assumed he was Eric Sacks. But Shredder in his beastly samurai armour was nowhere to be seen.

The soldiers formed a tight group around Sacks as they made their way toward the helicopters. Worried that they might take the one that would fit the brothers, I bolted into the open and whipped a kunai at one of the soldiers' thighs as I ran. He dropped to the ground and the other whirled around with guns lifted. _Guns_ , not tranquillizers.

 _Shit._ I managed to throw another kunai that embedded itself in the muzzle of one gun before Sacks yelled at them to "leave her!" And they spun and hurried into the closest helicopter, which, luckily, happened to be the two-passenger one. I reached the other helicopter and tried the cockpit door, but it was locked.

"Shit," I muttered, racking my brain for the best solution. The other copter's propellors quickly picked up their rotation pace and were soon lifting off the ground. Hair whipped wildly about my face as I grabbed a kunai from my belt and slammed it into the keyhole of the copter door, and I wished more than ever that I had a hair tie with me. The helicopter lifted quickly into the air now, and I scrambled into the cockpit to escape the intense winds from the propellors.

 _You're going too goddamn slow, Raiya,_ I scolded myself as I slammed the door closed and began firing up the helicopter, thanking whoever granted me the luck that this aircraft happened to be turbine powered and thus didn't require a key to start. _They're probably waiting on you, hurry it up._ I tried to slow my breathing as I realized this was the first time I'd ever solo piloted and that it was _totally_ illegal. With the propellors finally at a high enough rotational speed, I began lifting it into the air as fast as I could, having no concern for safety regulations or checks or _anything_ except the brothers might need me and I wasn't there. With a pounding pulse, I flew over the mansion to the backyard where we'd crashed through the gate and I'd left Raph but there was _nobody there._

I hovered and I waited but nobody was coming out of the building.

 _Nobody is coming,_ why _is nobody coming!? Where the hell are they!?_

And I hovered and I waited but nobody came.

So I quickly and unsteadily landed the helicopter and I rushed inside in search of my friends.

 **AN: Hey guys! I finally managed an update because school is fuckin OUT! I still got two more finals to write and another year of school but I am FREE! You guys I am so glad to have two months of no school, I'm gonna try to update as much as I can because now I can stay up all freaking night and not have to get up until 11. What a blessing lol.**

 **SPEAKING OF BLESSINGS, you guys are AWESOME! I want to thank all of you so so much for sticking with me and my slow, shitty updates for months now and still showing your support! It makes my day to see the reviews I still receive after leaving you guys hanging with no updates for months. I am so grateful for this continued support, it really helps to keep my spirits up and encourages me to keep writing. So I want to send a bigass THANK YOU to each one of you! :)**

 **Also, I haven't received many suggestions from you guys (which is fine lol) but I have received two suggestions for a country girl OC who could be Leo's love interest. I have never written a country character, nor have I met an actual country person, but I do live in Canada and I live on an acreage so maybe that counts? Lol idk, so I'm a little iffy to write an American country girl, so I think I'll write a Canadian country girl, hopefully they're the same haha. Tbh it's kinda hard writing all this American stuff when I've only been to America once and for like two weeks in the west so I'm gonna give myself a little break haha sorry if you guys wanted another American OC, but Canadians are pretty similar I think so not a huge difference, right? ANYWAYS, this OC is gonna be hella shy but adventurous (literally me), an animal lover (also me), who's super sweet and thoughtful but can also be really sassy and sarcastic, kinda goofy. I just can't decide if I want Raiya to instantly like her, instantly _not_ like her, instantly be wary of her or feel kinda neutral. What do you guys think? Also, feel free to recommend some personality traits you might like for the new OC or name suggestions, appearance, or really anything, but I won't be able to make all of them happen to please don't be disappointed!**

 **Also, I'd like to reply to my totally sweet and _awesome_ guest reviewer, I Am Lord ****Voldimort** **: Thank you for being one of the few who replied to my request! And thank you for being one of my most dedicated reviewers/readers, I love that you've been leaving me reviews since the very beginning! I would seriously love to write Donnie a love interest because he definitely doesn't get enough fanfics even though he's so sweet and awesome. But based on what I've heard from my readers so far, more would like to see Leo have a love interest, and unless I see the majority shift to Donnie I sadly won't be giving him a love interest in the next book. But if I decide to add an OC to the third book she'll definitely be Donnie's girl :)  
**

 **Thank you guys for all your support, and if you read all of that you're AWESOME! Please let me know what you thought of this chapter and what you think about the new OC! :)**


	56. 55 To The Tower

It wasn't difficult to figure out where Raphael had gone, I just followed the trail of destruction and unconscious Footclan soldiers. And then I heard screaming and my heart stopped when I realized it was Raph.

I ran faster, entering a brightly lit laboratory with desks of computers and equipment scattered around.

"Guys!?" I called, looking around desperately. "Raph!?" My eyes landed on Leo, Donnie and Mikey, who were stripped of their gear and strung up by their wrists in thick, glass-walled cages; their blood being sucked up through huge clear tubes and running through a machine before being deposited into a metal canister.

 _Oh my god._ They looked lifeless with their heads bowed forward and their shoulders rising rapidly with each quick breath. Nobody was around and I couldn't see Raphael and I knew I had to help the turtles before it was too late. Okay, Liv told me that first, blood loss victims would look pale and feel anxious, then they would start breathing faster and feel tired then they would fall unconscious and enter some sort of shock and die. But she'd told me that only a blood transfusion or stopping the blood flow and allowing the person to rest would 'cure' blood loss. And I didn't have the time, knowledge _or_ equipment for that.

 _There must be another way. They just look tired, all they need is a jump start._ I sucked in my breath suddenly. _A jump start!_ I rushed toward the caged turtles and found a control pad beside Donnie's container, searching wildly for a dosage option. _There!_

The genius murmured something almost inaudible. "Adrenaline," he breathed urgently. They were running out of time, I could hear it in the weakness of his voice.

"I know, D," I replied, voice shaking. My pulse raced as I amped up the dosage of adrenaline until I couldn't anymore. An overdose warning flashed on the screen and I looked up at the turtles but they still _weren't moving._

 _Why isn't it working!? Why aren't they getting up!?_ I stared at them hopelessly, tears stinging at the corners of my eyes, wondering what the hell I was going to do and where the hell Raphael was. Then there were arms around me, trapping my arms against my sides as I was dragged backwards, away from my friends. Dread curled around my stomach and I kicked and screamed at them to _get up!_ to _do something!_ But they hung there like dead specimens and I was helplessly trapped and Raphael was _gone_.

I screamed for Raph and for the brothers to wake up but something sweet-smelling was pressed to my mouth and my nose, making my vision blur and my mind cloud with dizziness. My eyelids turned heavy and everything around me became slow and calm. An ache built in my head. Distantly, I heard something shatter, then there was...loudness. Yelling, I think. Then that smell was gone, and I could breathe. I felt arms around me, strong and warm. I saw blurs of green and I felt so _tired_. There were voices, too. Saying my name, maybe. _Ow._ Something pricked my arm. Slowly, my hearing returned and the drowsiness evaporated.

"—okay, right Don?" _Mikey?_

"She's fine, just give it a sec to counteract." _That's definitely Donnie._

"Raiya?" _Leo_. "Raiya, come on. Wake up, we gotta go."

I tried, I really did. But that stupid rag had knocked any adrenaline from my bloodstream and now I had to fight the exhaustion from not sleeping for over twenty-four hours.

"Can I get some adrenaline, too?" I asked hopefully, lifting my eyelids and finding three, anxious green faces in front of me.

"No time," Donnie said, strapping his gear on hurriedly.

"We gotta get out of here," Leo said, still holding me securely against his plastron.

"I got us a ride," I said, trying to wake myself up. "Where's Raph?" At that, the turtles stiffened. "What?" I demanded. "Where the hell is he!?" I struggled against Leo to let me go. _He can't be dead. He said he'd be fine. He said I wouldn't have to wait for him_. Mikey and Donnie raced across the lab and leaped over a railing, disappearing into the level below us. "Let me go _right now,_ " I growled, punching Leo as he followed his brothers and jumped over the railing. The landing was a bit jarring and helped to wake me up but when I saw Raphael laying on the ground motionless I felt an awful twinge in my heart that spread through my whole body and I fought Leo's grasp. He let me go and I scrambled to him, hoping the crevasses on his shell weren't as bad as they looked.

"He fought Shredder," Mikey said quietly.

 _Of course he did._ "Raph," I touched his arm, this sort of rage beginning to fill me. "Raph, you can't be dead you owe me a carving, remember?" I blinked against the threat of tears. "You _have_ to be okay," I whispered, my fingers shaking as I pressed his wrist in search of a pulse. I just about fainted with relief when I felt it.

"I remember," he breathed, slightly amused. "I'm working on it." I grinned, wanting desperately to throw my arms around his neck and hug him. I punched him instead.

"You asshole!" I cried. "You're not allowed to scare me like that! It's not fair!"

Raphael chuckled and got to his feet. "I thought it was kinda funny."

"Hey, this is great," Leo intervened, picking his katanas off the floor. "But we _really_ gotta go." I glared at the blue-clad leader as he sheathed his swords, but obeyed because he was right. We were way behind Shredder and Sacks and we had to catch up.

"We'll catch you dudes up on the way there," Mikey said, retrieving his nunchucks from the ground and handing Donnie his bō. Raph must've dropped his brothers' weapons during the fight with Shredder.

"Alright, we gotta go!" Leo waved us after him and he led the way out of the building and into the backyard where the helicopter awaited us.

I grinned and rushed over. "Hop in, boys!" I called, climbing into the cockpit.

Raphael stared at the copter in what appeared to be horror. "You're kidding," he muttered.

I laughed. "Nope! Mikey, you can squeeze up front with me if you want." I pulled on a headset.

"Sweet!" He ran around to the other side of the aircraft, threw open the other door to the cockpit and shuffled into the copilot seat with a massive, childish smile.

I watched him excitedly put on a headset. "Just don't touch anything," I said, before turning back to the others with a huge grin. "Let's go!" Leo grinned back and hopped into the passenger cabin, Donnie close behind him.

"You sure this thing can carry us all?"

"Yup. This is an Agusta _Grand,_ " I explained dramatically. "Top of the line. And I'd like to keep it after so please don't wreck anything." I sent a pointed look in Mikey's direction, but he was too busy staring gleefully at the controls. Raphael still stood unmoving, staring fearfully at the helicopter.

"Come on, Raph!" I shouted, then whispered to Mikey, "what's his deal?"

The younger turtle just shrugged. "I dunno RaiyRaiy. Maybe he's afraid of heights."

"Seriously?" I glanced out the window again and watched as Leonardo yelled at his brother to get inside. Raph growled in annoyance and crawled into the cabin. _I need to ask him about that later._ "Everyone get a headset on!" I yelled, firing up the propellors. "Where're we headed, boys?"

 _"Sacks Tower,"_ Leo answered through the headset. _"Eric Sacks is planning on releasing a bunch of toxins from the top of his tower to infect_ _everyone in_ _New York."_

"Asshole," I muttered, pointing us in the direction of NYC as we rose higher. "What the hell for?"

 _"To get rich,"_ Mikey replied, his disgust evident.

 _"He's gonna use the mutagen in our blood to make a cure that people will have to buy from him,"_ Leo explained.

"But your blood is back down there," I said. "In the estate lab." An explosion in the Sacks Estate laboratory ripped through the air, almost making me jump.

 _"Not anymore,"_ Donnie said.

"Nice one!" I laughed. "Problem solved!"

 _"Not exactly,"_ Leo interjected. _"Sacks still has one canister of our blood that he took with him to the city."_

 _Great._ "Alright, problem _not_ solved," I muttered. "So what's the game plan?"

 _"You're gonna drop us off at the tower then go back to the lair to help Sensei,"_ Leo decided firmly.

I scoffed. "Like hell am I leaving you guys to fight robo-warrior on your own. At least let me grab the blood and break Sacks's face."

 _"Yeah!"_ Mikey agreed, grinning at me. _"That sounds like an awesome idea!"_

 _"It is a decent contingency plan,"_ Donnie added supportively.

Leo's sigh crackled through the headset. _"Alright, fine. But as soon as you have it take it back to the lair and give some to Sensei. You can't wait for us, Shredder is too strong."_

 _Fuck that._ "Fine. How's the view?"

 _"Awesome,"_ Donnie replied.

 _"Can we go higher?"_ Mikey asked.

Raph didn't share the others' enthusiasm. _"Can we land now?"_

I laughed. "How's your shell?"

 _"Fine,"_ he replied. _"Don just finished taping it up_."

 _"Since when did you guys go from hating each other to dating?"_ Mikey asked.

Leonardo exploded with laughter and I couldn't help but glare a little at Mikey, silently demanding _what the hell!?_

 _"Ohhh,"_ he nodded and corrected himself. _"So you guys_ aren't _dating."_

That only made Leo laugh harder.

 **AN: SURPRISE! Two updates in 48 hours! YOU'RE WELCOME lol I am seriously impressed with myself.**

 **So based on the suggestions I've received so far (you guys still have time to submit some) the new OC is still going to be Leo's love interest unless the majority shifts to Donnie or Mikey before TSS is over. I want her to have a really tomboy nickname. I'm thinking J.T., so her first name could be something like Jasmine Taylor, or something that starts with a J then something that starts with a T lol. I just really like the nickname J.T..One issue is gonna be the double periods when a sentence ends with J.T.. (like that). So if that's gonna annoy you guys I could just write it like JT instead.**

 **ANYWAYS, thank you all so much for all the feedback and suggestions! Lemme know what you guys thought of this kinda boring chapter lol (the next one will be interesting).**

 **And when the hell is that damn first kiss scene coming!? SOON! ;)**


	57. 56 Floor 36

"Alright, there it is," I announced dramatically. "Sacks Tower is ugly as hell and about to get wrecked."

Mikey laughed. _"Word to that, RaiyRaiy!"_

I grinned at his excitement. "Drop off on the roof?" I asked, taking a wide turn toward a clear, large landing space.

 _"Sure,"_ Leo agreed.

 _"The laboratory is on the thirty-sixth floor,"_ Donnie said. _"You should find Sacks there. I just disabled the security system so you won't have any problems getting there."_

"Nice," I said, nodding appreciatively. "Thanks, D." I narrowed my eyes at a black figure on the roof, standing near the base of the tall spire. "Wait..."

 _"Is that Shredder?"_ Mikey asked, leaning forward in his seat. I glanced over, making sure he wouldn't accidentally hit a button, but he was careful not to.

 _"What!?"_ Leo demanded.

"I really hope not," I muttered, slowing our approach for landing. "Hold on to something back there, we don't have time for a smooth landing." I watched anxiously as the black figure turned, sunlight reflecting off of them. They moved suddenly and quickly, somehow sending small, shining projectiles toward us.

Mikey yelled. _"Incoming shiny things!"_ He cried. _"Erasing action!"_

 _"Evasive!"_ Donnie corrected. I yelled for the turtles to hold on as I picked up speed to evade the volley of projectiles. Mikey screamed some more when I had to avoid another volley from the figure, who was now definitely Shredder.

"I can't land like this!" I yelled, maneuvering to dodge more flying blades. _Where is he even getting all these from?_

 _"Fly us over and we'll jump!"_ Leo ordered.

"Alright," I turned to make another pass over the landing space. "You'll have a short window so no hesitating."

 _"Alright."_

 _"We'll try to clear a space for you,"_ Donnie added.

I smiled. "Thanks, kick some ass down there."

 _"We will."_ Mikey opened his door, took off his headset and jumped. As soon as the others had jumped as well, I banked a hard right to evade more blades from Shredder.

"Bastard better not have scratched this thing," I muttered, spinning and heading back toward the tower roof. True to their word, the brothers were doing their best to keep Shredder occupied and had herded him away from the edge to create a space for me. _Man, I love these guys_. I hurriedly lowered the helicopter, landing it jarringly on the edge of the roof. I ripped my headset off and kicked open the cockpit door, jumping to the ground and rushing toward the elevator before the propellors could even stop spinning.

"Raiya!"

I felt the air shift and instinctively dove forward into a roll, narrowly avoiding another stupid, flying blade from Shredder. I whipped my head up and glared daggers at the armoured samurai. Raphael was staring at me with a mixed expression of horror and desperation and something else I couldn't exactly put my finger on. It must've been him who'd yelled my name.

"I'm fine!" I shouted, getting back to my feet and continuing toward the elevator. I was a distraction to Raph and probably the others as well, I had to get out of there before I was the cause of an injury.

The elevator doors were already open, thanks to Shredder, so all I had to do was rush inside and push the button for floor 36. The doors slid shut and I began moving downward slowly, an irritating ding sounding for each floor we passed. I leaned against the cold metal wall, trying to slow my breathing and pulse.

My wrist and shoulder ached beneath my hoodie, and I'm sure they were bleeding but I didn't care to check. It's not like I could do anything about it anyway. I pushed sweaty strands of hair off my forehead, annoyed beyond measure that I didn't have a hair tie with me. Standing uselessly inside the elevator, I began to worry for the brothers' safety. _How the hell are they going to beat Shredder if Master Splinter couldn't?_ I tried not to think of the worst outcome that now seemed very likely in my mind. But if I wasn't worrying about the brothers I was worrying about Splinter and if he was okay. Or what the hell I was going to tell Olivia. Or how I was going to explain to uncle Tom that his car is at the Sacks Estate, covered in bullet holes and with no windshield. Or how the hell I was going to get the blood from Eric Sacks without getting killed.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. I drew a kunai from my belt and crept forward silently. Straight ahead, there was a sign on the wall with an arrow pointing right beside the word LABORATORY. So I went right and followed the signs until I entered a fluorescent-lit room with big lab machines, desks cluttered with paper and computers, and floor to ceiling shelves containing microscopes, test tubes and other expensive science stuff I couldn't recognize.

On the far end of the room behind glass windows, Eric Sacks stood at a huge machine. I quickly stepped backward, pressing my back against the wall and out of sight behind a tall shelving unit. From my position, it looked like the machine was already running, probably extracting the mutagen. Which meant I needed to do something _fast._

 _Come on, Raiya. Use your brain._ _Think of_ something. I peered around the corner of the shelf, analyzing both the room and the man inside of it. He just stared at the machine as it worked, his back to me. It looked like there was a gun on the counter beside him, and I knew guns were faster than knives, so if worst came to worst I would be the first one dead. And the turtles would absolutely kill me if I died.

 _So I can't be seen... Well that's hella sketchy, he's totally gonna hear me open the door. I might even trip and get myself killed._ I bit my lip, containing my frustrated sigh. _I can't be quiet with this kind of pressure!_ ThenI started to wonder if my acting skills might be better than my sneaking skills.

I took a deep breath, removing my kunai belt and stepping out from behind the shelf.

 _Time to find out_.

 **AN: Lmao gotta love Mikey! Literally the first line of this chapter is my favourite haha.** **Okay I know this is super short but I wanted to give you guys something because you're all freaking awesome! And I plan on getting the next (longer) chapter out by the end of today or tomorrow so you guys won't be waiting _too_ long :)**

 **Another update on the new OC: Her name is Jasmine Taylor Anderson, J.T. or Jazz for short. She is English, German, Scottish, Irish, Cajun French, a tiny bit Mexican and very distantly Spanish. I picture her looking kinda like Danielle Campbell, but with freckles in the summer/spring. If you look up 'Danielle Campbell race to win' you'll find some pics of her with a brownish-black horse (not the bay), that's what J.T.'s quarter horse Jack looks like. J.T. also has a few other pets. She has a ten-year-old brother, Sam. And her parents run a farm that grows and sells stuff like barley, wheat and corn. They also have a bunch of cows and chickens, so they also sell milk and eggs. J.T. practices archery, bakes/cooks and reads books in her free time. She's very smart, shy, modest, and caring, but adventurous and fierce. But I'm not gonna tell you guys everything about her just yet! There will be much more about her to discover in TSR!** **If you guys still have suggestions for J.T., there's still time to send them in!**

 **Guys. There's like five chapter left of TSS. I'm so sad lol I literally love this story so much. But I'm also so freaking excited for TSR omgggg. But I have yet to make a cover for it so if anyone would like to have a go at it, that would be awesome! The font on the current cover for TSS is Selima for the title and Open Sans Light for my username. I make them on Canva cuz it's free but feel free to use anything else if you'd like. You guys don't have to, but just in case anyone is interested haha.**

 **ANYWHO. You guys are the greatest! Thank you so so much for all the wonderful reviews! They really make my day! :D**

 **Make sure to check your emails within the next few days for the next update notification! It should be up no later than Thursday. But I have two finals to write and study for before then, so ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯**

 **Love you all!**


	58. 57 Raiya Fucking Carter

I clasped my hands tightly behind my back, squaring my shoulder and straightening my back in an attempt to look as stiff as Karai usually did. I jutted my chin out and up, feeling like an absolute idiot and praying I didn't look too much like one.

I walked like that towards the room Sacks was in, purposefully taking long, heavy steps. Though I was wearing old sneakers and not high-heeled boots so I didn't sound very professional like Karai did.

 _This shitty plan is gonna get me fucking killed,_ I thought ruefully, pushing the door open and saying loudly, "Mister Sacks."

He whirled around with his gun raised and his eyes glaring, but confused.

I willed the fear from my face and continued. "The test subjects are on the roof."

He narrowed his eyes at me and adjusted his grip on the pistol. "Who the hell are you?" He demanded.

"Sir?" I asked, tilting my head and feigning confusion.

"I said, who _are_ you?" He repeated seethingly. "Aren't you the, uh...the friend? The stupid friend of the specimens?"

 _The stupid friend._ I fought the urge to punch him and kept a neutral tone of voice. "It seems Sensei Shredder never told you of me," I said with a slight smile akin to Karai's.

"No, it seems he _didn't_ ," he growled. "So please, _enlighten_ me."

I nodded briskly. "Sensei Shredder had me eliminate the girl who befriended the test subjects and pose as her to earn their trust. I allowed a tracker to be placed in me one night that could lead your man to the specimens' lair. When the fourth specimen was not captured, I brought him to your estate to be contained. Unfortunately, they managed to escape so I brought them here for Sensei Shredder to eliminate them. They are on the roof right now. I can lead a team to contain them and bring them back to the estate if you'd like, sir."

His expression seemed to say he didn't entirely believe me. "You threw a knife at my soldiers and I," he pointed out, not lowering his gun in the lightest.

I masked my grimace with a pleasant smile. "Yes. But I did not kill him. If I did not harm anyone the subjects would suspect something. The big red one is extremely wary." _At least that's not a lie._ "If I did not help them, he would not trust me and I couldn't have brought him to your estate, then here. The same reason why I had to defend them when the lair was attacked. I do regret it, but it was necessary." His gun was still raised, so I kept talking. "I apologize for the secrecy, sir. But the reason Sensei Shredder regretted to inform you of my role is because you needed to believe I was their ally as much as they did. Otherwise, I might have been compromised."

"Hmm." He watched me closely and I willed myself to remain steady and stone-faced.

 _Look like Karai. Act like Karai. Look like Karai. Act like Karai._

Sacks relaxed and lowered his gun with a grim expression.

"Alright. But I don't quite trust you enough to take a team up their to contain the specimens. So you can stay here until Sensei Shredder returns." He turned back to the machine, setting his pistol down and watching a small canister fill with green liquid. "And make sure those stupid turtles don't come in here," he ordered as an afterthought.

I nodded, unclasping my hands and letting them hang at my sides. "Of course sir. Is there anything else I can do?"

Eric Sacks turned his gaze from the machine to me, his eyes flicking downward momentarily when I placed my hands in my pocket. Though he quickly disregarded the action to be as casual as any. "No," he shook his head. "You've done quite a wonderful job so far. Thank you, miss...?" He trailed off, raising his eyebrows expectantly for my name.

I smirked and pulled my hands from my pocket, a cloth clasped tightly in my fist. "Raiya _fucking_ Carter."

Sacks cursed and lunged for his gun but I swiped it away with one hand while using the other to press the chloroform-soaked cloth to his mouth and nose. He stumbled backward and I quickly grabbed his fighting arms, doing my best to ignore the protest in my right arm. It wasn't long before his struggling weakened and he finally slackened. I let him fall to the floor in an ungraceful heap, grinning like a madwoman and breathing heavily from the rush.

"Fuck yeah!" I cried, flipping off the unconscious billionaire. "Fuck you! Good luck getting rich now, asshat!" I spun to grab the mutagen and rush out, but I figured he'd probably wake up soon and try to kill me. So I found a thick extension cord and tied his arms and legs together with that. I considered securing the cloth over his nose, but I figured if it could knock a person out in such a short amount of time, I must not be very good to breathe it in for a long time. So I put it back in my pocket, silently thanking whichever turtle had put it in there after rescuing me back at the estate.

The machine had stopped working and the canister was full of bright green mutagen, so I assumed it'd extracted all of it from the blood, but I still used a big microscope to smash the blood canister open and shatter the glass of the machine, hopefully rendering it useless. I grabbed the mutagen canister from the machine but noticed there was still some residual green liquid in the tubes. I grinned and searched for a syringe.

••• 影の秘密 •••

 _ding!_

The elevator doors slid open and I took a step out before freezing in horror.

Debris was falling down from the top of the spire like rain, and the turtles were impossibly trying to support the base of it to keep it from falling and the toxins from spreading upon impact. My breath caught in my throat when Shredder approached Leonardo and launched a fist into his stomach. But still, that stubborn turtle didn't move from his place and instead took the beating. The spire swayed dangerously with a loud groan of protesting metal. _I have to do something._

I rushed to the helicopter, grabbing the capped syringe from my pocket and tossing it into the passenger seat before spinning back toward the turtles, my mind racing for a solution. _They could probably hold it if Shredder would leave them the hell alone._

I gulped and stepped away from the helicopter, toward the edge of the roof. "Hey, dickhead!" I yelled. Shredder turned his head slowly, his gaze landing on me. Now that I had his attention, I lifted the mutagen canister with a wave. "What happens if I drop this?" I asked, suspending it over the edge of the roof with a wicked grin despite my fearful, racing heart.

Shredder growled and took another step away from Leo. The turtles were all staring at me, and I refused to meet their gazes because I knew they were worried about me and angry that I didn't do what Leo told me to. Instead, I focused on the monstrous, robot samurai that was approaching me with blades drawn, probably with intentions to kill me.

Thankfully—or unthankfully, I couldn't decide right then—I didn't get much of a chance to think about it because the spire had released a particularly loud groan and had begun falling toward me. _Of fucking course_.

One of the brothers yelled my name but I didn't need a warning to know I had to get the hell out of the way. Avoiding the rainfall of debris, I clutched the mutagen to myself and rolled to the side, removing myself from the spire's path. But before I could even get to my feet, a cold metal fist connected with my cheek, the spikes across the knuckles cutting sharply into my skin. The force of the blow sent me crumpling to the ground with a cry of pain. Blood streamed down my face but I didn't release my hold on the canister.

"Give me the mutagen, girl," Shredder ordered, leaning over my curled up body. I slipped a kunai from my belt, praising myself for remembering to grab it on the way out of the laboratory.

"Fuck you," I hissed, and whipped the knife at the eyehole in his mask. He lifted an arm to deflect it while I used his diverted attention to kick his legs out from under him. As much as I wanted to see him fall on his ass, I scrambled to my feet as soon as I could and ran. I only got a few steps before Shredder had grabbed my foot and I fell forward onto my stomach.

"Give it to me," he growled, crawling toward me.

"Raiya, _move!_ " When I heard the familiar voice yell my name, I didn't hesitate to obey and I kicked Shredder in the face before rolling right off the edge of the roof, narrowly avoiding getting crushed by a section of metal framework from the falling spire.

"NO!" The samurai cried, throwing himself off the roof after me. The spire crashed down onto the building across from it, keeping it suspended in the air between the two buildings. Protruding white bars lined the edge of the spire, and I was falling right toward them. I tucked the mutagen into my hoodie pocket, praying it wouldn't fall out, and braced myself. My body jarred from the impact and my bad shoulder screamed from the force it took to stop myself from falling while holding on. Shredder fell into the spire as well, and—having thrown himself with more force off the roof—grabbed a bar several feet ahead of the one I held desperately on to. I tried pulling myself up before he could attack me again, first lifting my left arm up and over the bar, then hauling my right up. Shredder swung his legs, gaining momentum to jump one bar closer to me. _Shit._

I reached one hand down and took the mutagen from my hoodie pocket. "Come any closer and I'll drop this," I threatened, holding it as far from him as I could. That sure made him pause.

"Give me that canister, little girl," he said, reaching a hand out to the next bar.

"Don't _fucking_ move," I ordered, straining my left arm to keep myself up. I heard Mikey call my name, but I didn't take my eyes off Shredder. I knew he'd take any chance he could to get the mutagen. And he sure as hell wouldn't hesitate to take me out to do so.

"Raiya!" This time, it was Raphael's voice. I glanced up, finding him and his brother's sprinting toward me along the body of the spire. Realizing my mistake too late, I looked back in time to see Shredder lunge at me through the air.

 **AN: Cliff hangerrr haha not sorry. So I think the name of this chapter is officially my favourite lol**

 **TWO FREAKING CHAPTERS IN ONE FREAKING DAY MIRACLES ARE POSSIBLE**

 **So I forgot to ask the last chapter, what kind of weapon should Raiya have in TSR? I'm thinking either twin steel tessens or a kabutowari with a removable aikuchi disguised in the hilt. I'm kinda leaning towards tessens cuz she's gonna be doing stealth missions and stuff and tessens can hide under dresses. Anyways, lemme know what you guys think! Are there any other weapons I should consider?**

 **Thank you guys for the reviews! Please leave me some more because they make me very happy! :)**


	59. 58 Our Last Words

There was nothing I could do but accept my fate and brace myself as Shredder slammed into me. I screamed, swinging a bit before my arms slipped off the bar I grasped. The enraged samurai clung to me as we fell fast through the air, my entire right arm burning painfully. I kicked my legs, trying to shake him off, and held the mutagen above my head, far from his reach. One of the turtles might have shouted my name, but I could hardly hear over the wind racing past me and the blood pounding in my ears. _What a shitty day._

A three-fingered hand closed around my left forearm and I could feel the sudden strain of stopping my fall travel down my left arm in sharp aches and pains. Suspended painfully in the air and being slowly hoisted back up, I looked up and into the bright green eyes of Raphael. _The turtles must've_ _formed_ _a chain to save me._ And for the second time in the last half an hour, I realized how much I loved those crazy, mutant brothers.

"Can I throw the mutagen?" I asked, raising my voice a bit to ensure he could hear me.

"I think so," he said.

Shredder must've heard us because he started trying to crawl up my body with renewed urgency to reach the canister. I gritted my teeth as he grabbed onto my useless, right arm, his metal fingers wrapping around my wrist and pressing on the deep wound where the tracker had been cut out. I lifted my legs and kicked, but it did nothing to deter him.

I released my grasp on the canister, letting it fall down through the air. Shredder let go of my wrist and reached a desperate hand out to catch the canister before it was too late. Using that split second during which his attention was elsewhere and he was only holding onto me with one hand, I grabbed a kunai from my belt with my now-free right hand, clenched my jaw against the protesting pain, and slammed it into a nook in his helmet. Taken by surprise, he backpedalled and grunted in annoyance, giving me the chance to kick with as much strength as I could muster. He lost his hold on me and fell, only to grab my ankle and once again strain my left arm painfully at the shoulder.

I cursed, slamming my other foot into his face once, twice, until finally, I knocked him off me and sent him falling to the street far below. The impact created a huge crater in the pavement and sent up a wave of dust. I couldn't see clearly from the distance, but I was almost positive the canister would have sustained damage from the fall. I hoped I was right.

"Nice one," Raph complimented, drawing my attention back to him.

"Thanks," I breathed. "And thanks for saving me."

"Hey!" I looked past Raphael to find the source of the voice. "We helped too!" Mikey added, clinging to the body of the spire beside Donnie while Leo hauled us the rest of the way up.

I managed a smile through the pain and amended my statement. "Thanks for saving me too, Mikey." He grinned widely at me, but when his gaze trailed down my body and took in my injuries, it faltered. _Man, I must look pretty bad._

"Wow, you look like shit, Raiy," Leo commented, helping his brother up beside him.

Donnie elbowed the leader pointedly. "Where's the mutagen?" He asked.

"With Shredder," I muttered. Raphael grabbed the spire with one hand and dragged me up after him. I wrapped my one good arm around a thick pole within the framework, leaned back gratefully in an attempt to relax my tense body and released a huge breath of relief. _At least all this shit's finally over._

The spire swayed suddenly, making the turtles stiffen and glance nervously at each other. Metal groaned and something snapped. The spire's weight had dragged it off the edge of the Sack's tower and the other one it was leaning on. Without a thought I crawled inside the frame, wrapping my arms and legs around a pole just as we began to fall. I really couldn't help the scream that escaped me, but the brothers were screaming as well so I hardly felt self-conscious.

"I think this is it, guys!" Donnie yelled.

"Does anyone have anything they wanna say?" Leo shouted. A jolt travelled through the spire and my body when it landed momentarily on the roof of a building in its path.

"Donnie?" Leo prompted.

"I'm the one who licks the icing off the Pop-Tarts every morning and puts them back on the box!" The purple-clad brother cried before the spire rolled off the building and continued its fall to the ground, rolling uncontrollably through the air.

Mikey hardly needed urging to speak his last words. "Is so did not understand the ending of Lost!"

"Me neither, Mikey!" I yelled, a smile ghosting my lips despite our predicament. "But I'm sure as hell glad I met you guys! It's been the best two weeks of my life!"

"Raph?" Leo asked.

Raphael hesitated. "I just, uh," he paused and I thought for a moment he wouldn't continue, but he did. "Uh, if this is our last moment together, I just want you guys to know I'm _sorry!_ I'm sorry I was so _hard_ on you! Uh, every time I _pushed_ you I…I _threatened_ you, I _yelled_ at you, I pushed you beyond your limits, it was because I _believe_ in you! I believe in each one of you! I believe in your spirit, and y–your intelligence and your potential! And every time I talked about walking away it was because I was _scared!_ I just didn't think I was good enough to stand next to you and call you _brothers!_ And say to you…I _love_ you! I love you guys so much!"

My heart clenched at his ardent words, and it made me wish so much that I'd had more time to know Raphael and his brothers, and that I had more time to tell him everything I wanted to.

Another massive jolt travelled through me when we made contact with the pavement, sending up a massive cloud of dust that stung my eyes and tickled my throat.

"Raph?" Donnie asked tentatively. "We made it."

Mikey peered at his older brother through the dust hanging in the air. "Are you crying?" At that, I glanced up at the turtle. He was panting and his arms were shaking from the strain of keeping himself from flying out of the spire during the fall.

"No ding-dong," he protested weakly, turning his head from his brothers' curious gazes. "It's just a little dusty out here."

Well, Raph definitely wasn't wrong. But I knew better and I could see the unshed tears glistening in his watery eyes. His eyes met mine and I sent him a knowing look that said _I know your secret, tough guy._

The corner of his mouth lifted in a lopsided smile. "Let's get outa here."

 **AN: Ya girl just crushed grade 11 _and_ managed to write a kick-ass chapter! Fuck yeah! Lol so I decided to celebrate my hard earned freedom by giving you guys another update (even tho it's kinda short)! Hope you guys enjoyed it!**

 **Only like two more chapters are left of TSS and tbh I might cry. I might put off finishing them for a while just because I don't want this story to end lmao nah I'm kidding, you guys definitely deserve that first kiss scene tho so ima get it to you ASAP! It's gonna be so fckin cute I can't even lol**

 **Anyway, I want to thank everyone so much for the lovely reviews I've received! Pls keep them coming cuz they make me happy af :)**


	60. 59 Somehow

Under the cover of the dust, the five of us hurried into the sewers before anybody could catch sight of us. Leo took the lead and began navigating the tunnels, trying to return to their sensei as fast as he could.

 _Wait._

"Wait!" I yelled, stopping suddenly and making Raphael swear behind me. "The mutagen is in the helicopter back on the Sacks Tower roof." Leo, Donnie and Mikey spun to face me incredulously.

"I thought Shredder had it when he fell," Donnie said.

"He did, but I filled a syringe with some and threw it in the passenger seat of the copter before getting thrown off the tower." My phone was there too, but it was hardly important.

"For Sensei?" Mikey asked hopefully.

I nodded. "I need to go back and get it before somebody else does."

Leo exchanged a look with Donnie.

"Raiya, you're injured pretty bad..." Donnie pointed out.

"Yeah I _know_ , but so is Splinter," I protested, crossing my arms and lifting an expectant eyebrow at the leader.

"What if someone sees you?" Leo added. "They're not just gonna let you fly off with a helicopter. And where do you plan on landing it, anyway?"

I bit my lip, dreading what I had to ask from them. "My uncle's?" I asked, my hopeful voice quiet and staring with begging eyes at Leo.

Leo sighed through his nose and clenched his jaw. "You can't do that without telling him about us. You know that."

"Well I already need to explain to him how the car I borrowed ended up at the Sacks Estate covered in bullet holes and with a smashed windshield," I said pointedly, knowing I finally had him cornered.

Leo opened his mouth to argue the case, but found that he couldn't and instead clenched his teeth together and fired another questioning glance at Donnie, who just shrugged in a _she has a point_ kinda way.

"You Splinter won't last without mutagen. And I don't know any of your guys' blood types so we couldn't do a blood transfusion even if we wanted to," I insisted, staring harder at Leo and trying to convey to him that I wasn't asking this of them because I wanted to keep the helicopter and I wanted to tell uncle Tom of their existence. All I wanted was to save Splinter, just as he and his brothers did. "This is the only way and you know it," I continued. "If I go now, I can get out of there faster using the helicopter than the elevator."

Mikey glanced desperately between me and Leonardo, his hopeful, shining eyes practically begging his older brother to let me save their father, even if it meant revealing their secret to another human. Leonardo lifted his gaze from me to the turtles behind me, a silent conversation occurring between them before he did the same with Donnie. Finally, he turned back to me.

"Your uncle better be trustworthy," he said. "And try to hurry, or else this'll be for nothing."

I nodded. "I will. Thank you."

Leonardo waved his hand, motioning for his brothers to follow him before taking off down the sewer tunnel. I moved aside for Raphael, but he lingered for a moment, his eyes locking with mine and seeming to tell me to _be careful, don't get hurt, please hurry._

I smiled and sent my own message back. _Softie._

That made him smile.

••• 影の秘密 •••

The brothers were clustered tightly around Splinter, who still laid on the table in his room within the ruined lair.

I rushed over, tripping occasionally on debris and hoping I wasn't too late.

"Donnie," I called, hopping over a pile of concrete and rebar.

The turtles spun instantly at my voice. Donnie hurried forward, taking the syringe from my outstretched hand with a murmured "thank you" before rushing back to Splinter, shooing his brothers out of his way. I stumbled over another stray block of concrete in my hurry to reach the unconscious rat's bedside. Raphael watched me with an amused smirk.

"How'd he take it?" Leo asked when I neared them.

"I didn't tell him yet," I said, glancing down at Splinter as Donnie uncapped the syringe and flicked it twice. "I didn't wanna waste any time so I just told him I'd explain everything later." My gaze flicked to Leo. "Will Splinter be mad?"

The turtle sighed. "I dunno."

"We could just come up with a really shitty excuse to tell uncle Tom," I offered, watching as Donnie carefully injected the contents of the syringe into Splinter's arm.

"Okay," he announced. "The mutagen is now entering his bloodstream." The brothers fell silent and crowded in closer around their sensei. I took a step back, not wanting to intrude on their family reunion of sorts.

Mikey leaned over the rat, peering down at him hopefully. "Master Splinter?"

"Nothing's happening," Raph pointed out.

Mikey seemed marginally annoyed. "Why isn't it working yet?" He asked impatiently, glancing momentarily at Donnie. The genius didn't reply and instead watched Splinter as his breathing evened out and he turned his head toward the youngest turtle, who hovered above him like a worried child.

"Mikey," Splinter breathed, his eyes fluttering half-open.

"Huh?" He responded.

"Mikey come closer," Splinter requested, his voice quiet. The turtle leaned close to his master, turning his head to bring his ear closer as the rat whispered something to him. Mikey's lips formed an 'oh' and he lifted his head, instantly being bombarded by his brothers.

"What'd he say? What'd he say?" Leo demanded impatiently.

Mikey looked at him with wide, light blue eyes. "He said 'please get your knee off my chest.'"

I had to bite my lip to contain my laughter. In unison, the turtles leaned back, laughing in relief and Mikey removed his knee from Splinter's chest, as requested.

Leonardo couldn't be more relieved. "Sensei!" He cried, a grin spreading across his face, though I couldn't help but notice how quickly it disappeared.

"Y–You're alive!" Mikey said as if he couldn't believe it.

"I–It worked," Raph breathed.

"I'm sorry," Leo said quietly, causing the others to turn solemn. "This was all my fault." He looked down, unable to meet his master's gaze.

"You were right," Raphael added, looking sadly at Splinter. "We weren't ready."

But Splinter wouldn't accept their apologies. "No," he argued gently, looking to each of his sons. "It was I who wasn't ready to let you go. All you needed was to discover that your _true_ power lies in believing in one another." The brothers looked between each other, smiles growing on their lips.

With an expression of wonder, Mikey lifted his hands to his temples and flared his fingers while making a "pkow" noise in a 'mind blown' gesture. They grinned amongst themselves, revelling in their success and praise.

Sensei spoke again, his voice already returned to its former strength. "Where is Raiya, my sons? Is she alright?"

Taking this as my cue, I stepped forward, poking my head in between Raph and Mikey's shoulders with a huge grin. "Right here," I announced brightly. "I'm alright."

Splinter sat up and lifted a finger, pointing to my face. "You're bleeding," he argued.

"Oh," I lifted a hand to my cheek with a grimace, the open cuts from Shredder's armoured fist stinging at the contact. I winced and removed my fingers. "Yeah, Shredder punched me. They stopped bleeding, though."

Softly, fingers touched my chin and jaw, gently turning my face to the side. My gaze fell on Raphael as he inspected my injury, jaw clenched, as if just noticing it.

"I'm fine," I murmured, hoping I sounded reassuring. His hand fell away from my face with a quiet sigh and his eyes met mine with an intense mixture of anger and sadness and regret.

"I'll check them out," Donnie spoke up. "I might be able to keep them from scarring."

I looked away first to smile gratefully at the mutant. "Thanks, Donnie." He nodded and focused on Splinter again, making sure he was alright before wheeling a low, swivel stool out and ushering me over. I walked around to the other side of Splinter's makeshift bed and took a seat on the offered stool, using my foot to spin myself side-to-side with a childish grin. Donnie kneeled on the concrete, grabbing the required supplies from the first aid kit and getting to work on my injuries.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"How's it looking, Doctor Don?" Mikey asked, plopping down cross-legged on a pillow.

"Good," he replied, more focused on wrapping a bandage carefully around my wrist.

"You gonna have any badass scars?" Mikey asked me, sounding almost excited.

I laughed. "Yeah. I'm gonna have one on my wrist and maybe the ones on my cheek." My shoulder wound was a fairly shallow cut from the kunai the Foot soldier had thrown sloppily at me when they attacked the lair, the quartet of thin impalations on my face from Shredder's knuckle spikes were deep, but luckily didn't go through my cheek, and the one on my wrist was the deepest and Donnie spent most of his time cleaning and dressing that one. He insisted that he could ensure none of them would scar, but part of me wanted to keep a few of them, at least. So I told him to leave the one on my wrist, and to treat the ones on my cheek for now, as I hadn't yet decided if I wanted to keep those or not.

"Cool," he nodded appreciatively at my decision to keep at least one. "You should get a tatt next."

I grinned, thinking of how Raphael would react if I were to ask him for one. "Maybe."

"Okay," Donnie lifted his hands away, surveying his work. "That'll do for now."

"You're done?" I confirmed. He nodded and I sighed in relief. _Finally._ "Thanks, Donnie. I have to get home now, Olivia is probably worried to death."

"Oh yeah," Mike chuckled. "Forgot you had a sister. What're you gonna tell her happened to your face?"

I groaned at the reminder and rubbed my face, careful not to touch the fresh bandages. "I have _no_ idea."

Donnie smiled crookedly. "We can help with that."

••• 影の秘密 •••

The turtles, Splinter and I actually managed to conjure a pretty good cover-up story. I'd woken up early this morning to make it to my shift at the zoo. But I forgot to charge my phone last night so it died before I even got to the zoo. While I was there, I saw Raphael (the fake, human version, obviously). He offered to take me out after I got off work at noon, so we went for a walk in central park. I challenged him to see who could climb a tree faster. I slipped while climbing and hurt myself, hence my wounds and ruined hoodie. He took me to his house, which happened to be nearby, and took care of my injuries before he walked me back to my apartment. I then told him to go home so he wouldn't have to deal with Olivia's wrath.

Everything about the cover story save for the whole tree-injury-thing seemed pretty foolproof. Unless Liv happened to wake up earlier than normal, stopped by the zoo, or actually seen me running around with the turtles. I did ask uncle Tom when I dropped off the helicopter if Liv had spoken with him at all today, and he said no, so that meant we didn't have to mention borrowing uncle Tom's car in my fake story, which made things a whole lot easier.

After everyone had agreed upon my cover story to tell Liv, we discussed what we'd tell uncle Tom. Splinter insisted that him and the turtles would stop by his place after sunset to tell him their story and everything that had happened today. I would text uncle Tom beforehand to let him know, and, if Liv was asleep, FaceTime him to be present while they briefed him.

Raphael then escorted me via the sewers to my apartment and wished me luck with Olivia. There were a lot of things I wanted to tell him but decided it wasn't a good time, and instead went aboveground and confronted my sister with my cover story. She totally bought it and insisted she check my bandages just to be sure, then proceeded to rant about how stupid and irresponsible I was, then hugged me for a solid five minutes.

I managed to FaceTime uncle Tom that night while Liv was fast asleep, and stayed up late to make sure I was there the whole time, plus a few minutes after the mutants left. Uncle Tom was pretty freaked out at first, despite me telling him what they looked like. Mikey kept trying to talk to me through my uncle's phone while Splinter was talking, and wandered off a lot to marvel at all the vehicles in the hangar. Leo spent most of his time making sure he didn't touch anything and stayed quiet. After Splinter explained everything to uncle Tom, he still seemed dazed, but reassured us he was fine and that he was totally cool with keeping their secret. The turtles and Splinter left, and I stayed on FaceTime a while longer to talk with him, double checking that he knew what was going on and that he knew he wasn't dreaming.

Somehow, everything had managed to work out.

Somehow, everyone had survived, and with minimal injuries.

Somehow, we managed to defeat the Shredder and his Footclan and saving New York City all in one day.

Somehow, in the last two weeks, I'd befriended the five most incredible people. And I knew that I'd never let them go. No matter what might happen to us, I would never let myself forget about the family I'd become a part of.

Besides, life would be boring without them in it.

 **AN: YOU GUYS. THIS IS THE LAST FREAKING CHAPTER OF TSS.**

 **HA SIKE!**

 **There's another one coming lol. But it's gonna be kinda short, but it's also gonna be rly fuckin cute sooo ya. Hope y'all are prepared. It's gonna take place ONE MONTH LATER.**

 **Anyways, hope you guys liked this pretty long chapter! It was super fun to write! Lemme know what you guys thought of it :D**


	61. 60 Stargazing

**Severo (ft. Amelie) - Stargazing**

 **ˆˆˆˆˆ**

 **[ listen to it! It's on youtube and it's awesome! :) ]**

* * *

"The Perseids meteor shower peaks tonight."

I nodded, only half listening to Olivia as I traced the scar on my wrist and looked up at the ceiling, thoughts of my mother running rampant through my mind.

"If you wanna watch it, we could drive out of the city and—"

"Don't you have plans with Andy tonight?" I asked, her words finally seeming to reach my ears.

"Yeah, but I can cancel."

I sat up on the couch to look at Liv, standing in the doorway to her room about to get ready for her date. "Don't cancel for me," I said. "Seriously, it's just a meteor shower. Besides, I'll probably just watch Chappie, I've been wanting to watch it forever now."

Olivia grinned. "Yeah, you can watch that one without me. It looks weird." She shifted her weight and leaned against the doorframe, watching me carefully. "You sure?"

"Yes."

"Okay," she took a step back into her room, "I'm gonna get ready then."

I nodded, falling onto my back on the couch again. I wanted to watch the meteor shower more than anything because I knew nothing stopped my mother from watching it every year. Cloudy skies? She drove until the sky was clear. Full moon? She brought out the telescope. Freezing weather? She gathered blankets and sleeping bags and made enough hot chocolate to last us the whole night. Leukemia? She stayed awake all night, staring up at the sky through a tiny window. Nothing stopped her, and I knew every night she was still watching.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. I sighed, irritated. But my curiosity got the best of me and I lifted it up to my face to check it. A message from fake Raphael appeared on the cracked screen:

 _What are you doing_

The message was simple but I couldn't help my smile. I typed a response:

 _Nothing. Liv's leaving for a date soon, I'm gonna watch a movie_

His reply came fast. _Of course you are. What movie_

I grinned. _Chappie_

 _Wtf is that_

 _Idk it's new, it's about robots_

 _Sounds boring_

I scoffed. _Fuck off_

In response, he sent a middle finger emoji.

We went on to talk and bicker for a while longer. But it must've been for longer than it felt because before I knew it, Liv was saying goodbye and leaving to meet up with Andy and the sky outside was darkening.

I didn't really feel like watching a movie, suddenly.

My body stiffened and the air felt...wrong. No, _occupied._ Then it was breaking and I was moving, lifting my hand and ripping the sai from his grasp. Raphael was grinning at me.

"Nice reflexes, Carter."

"Stop doing that!" I cried, sitting up on the couch while a smile snuck onto my face. Raph didn't reply, he just grinned wider and took the sai from my hand.

"Come on," he said, placing the weapon back on his belt and walking back toward my room.

I narrowed my eyes at his retreating figure. "What?" But, once again, he didn't reply. _What the hell is he doing?_ "Where are you going?" I shouted. He turned his head, a smirk plastered on his face that said _get off your ass and see for yourself._

Once again, my curiosity got the better of me and I followed him.

••• 影の秘密 •••

"Raph, what the fuck." It wasn't even a question, but a bewildered statement as I watched the mutant _climb up the spire of the Empire State Building_.

He stopped with an exasperated sigh and looked down at me. "What, are you scared?"

I scoffed. "I fly helicopters for fun, this is nothing. But where the _hell_ are you going?"

He grinned and kept climbing, yelling "keep up!" over his shoulder. I sighed and resigned myself to follow him up, wondering why the hell I decided to get up off the couch.

Raphael stopped when he reached a landing of metal grating that wrapped circularly around the body of the spire. He reached a hand down, helping me up onto the landing beside him. I mentally reminded myself to work on my pull-ups later, because I probably couldn't have made it up without his help.

"Why the hell are we up here?" I asked, sitting down on the edge of the landing.

"Why not?" He fired back, sitting beside me.

I glanced at him, marginally irritated. "I _mean,_ for what reason are we here for?"

Almost imperceptibly, Raphael stiffened. "Uh," he pulled out the phone Donnie made him and glanced down at it, checking the lock screen before putting it away and holding something else—larger. I squinted through the darkness but couldn't make it out.

"Finally finished that carving," Raph said, handing the object to me. I took it from him excitedly, feeling the smooth, sanded wood beneath my fingers and grinning uncontrollably. It was a flower. I couldn't recognize what kind of flower, but I was too focused on the detail to care. It sat in my palm perfectly, with layers of wide, oval-like petals flaring outward, each with their own unique shape and size and imperfections. They curved and folded and laid over each other as if they were real. The edges of the petals were each rippled in their own way, one of the lower ones with a tiny tear. The lowest, largest petals even had tiny ridges that looked like the veins and texture of a real flower.

"How...?" I could hardly speak. "Are you sure this isn't real?"

"You like it?" He sounded so nervous and unsure.

"Are you kidding?" I asked. "This is awesome, I _love_ it."

He exhaled, seeming relieved and less stiff than before. "Good," he breathed. "I wasn't sure if you liked flowers or not."

 _Even if I didn't like flowers, I would still love this_.

"Do you know what kind it is?" I asked, wondering if it was just a random flower he'd created or if he'd actually chosen a specific kind to replicate.

"I tried making it look like a uh, gardenia."

"Well, I dunno what those look like, but I think you nailed it. I know exactly where I'm gonna put it." I bumped my shoulder against his arm and looked up at him. "Thank you. I love it."

He smiled crookedly. "No problem. I did try making it an aster, but I couldn't get the petals thin enough without breaking them."

 _He remembered._ I almost laughed. "It's fine, I still really love it. So is that why you brought me all the way up here?"

"No, I–"

Suddenly, everything went black. All the lights in New York went out instantly in a huge wave, as if a light switch to the city had been flipped. A blackout.

"Finally," Raph muttered.

I spun, tearing my gaze from the black city to him. "What? What do you mean 'finally'?"

A voice crackled through his transmitter before he could answer. _"Sorry, Raph,"_ Donnie said. _"Mikey was distracting me."_ Shocked and confused, I stared at Raphael in silence, waiting for his explanation.

"I uh, asked Donnie to shut off the power to the city," he admitted, a little nervously. "He was a few minutes later than we planned."

My heart jumped, finally cluing into the strange game Raph had secretly been playing. "You planned this?"

He fiddled with his hands. "Yeah. I know how much you love the stars, and I always see you trying to find them at night," he shrugged as if it were nothing and looked at me. "I just thought you might wanna watch the meteor shower tonight."

Tears I could hardly contain built up in the corners of my eyes, making me grateful we were both still adjusting to the sudden lack of light. "I can't believe you cut the power to the city so I could stargaze," I murmured. "You have no idea how much that means to me." Making sure I wouldn't knock us off the top of the Empire State Building, I leaned over and hugged him fiercely, carefully holding the carved flower in one hand.

Raph relaxed slightly and hugged me back, bringing me closer to him. I smiled to myself, listening to his racing heart and breathing in his smell and feeling this incredible warmth rushing through my chest.

"You're missing the meteors," he said.

"It takes half an hour for your eyes to adjust to the dark," I mumbled, not wanting to let him go.

"I just saw one," he argued.

Instantly, I perked up. "Really?" I released him, earning myself a laugh from him as I looked up at the sky in search of a shooting star. "It must've been a fireball," I noted, unable to see any stars in the sky yet.

I felt his questioning gaze on me.

"What's that?"

"Just a really bright meteor," I said, smiling when I recalled a memory. "The first time I saw one I thought the world was ending," I admitted, laughing. "It was huge, and I thought it would blow up the planet." My mother had laughed so much, then explained to me how harmless the fireball was.

His shoulders shook with silent laughter. "The one I saw was not that big."

I smiled, reminiscing in the memory for as long as I could. "Yeah, most of them aren't." I stared across the New York skyline and ran my fingers over the smooth petals of the flower sitting in my palm, in love with the feel of the carved wood, anxious to see the first traces of light in the sky.

"You know, I haven't seen the stars in four years," I said distantly. "I'd watched them all my life but when Mom died and we moved here..." I shrugged. "Not being able to see them was like losing her again." I spared a glance at the mutant sitting beside me. "She would've liked you. She would've liked your whole family."

Raphael remained silent, but I didn't mind. I knew he wasn't particularly good with this 'emotional shit' as he often called it, so I didn't expect him to provide any advice or verbal reassurance. It was enough that he was there, right beside me.

A white line streaked across the sky before disappearing a moment later.

I almost jumped to my feet from the excitement. "Did you see that?" I asked. "Or am I seeing things?"

He laughed. "No, I saw it. Stars are starting to come out, too."

It was true. I could see Polaris clear and true. The brighter stars in the night sky beginning to shine and bring to life their constellations.

I pointed to a trio of visible stars. "There's Orion's Belt."

"You know their names?"

"Of course," I replied. "The bottom one is Alnitak, the middle is Alnilam and the top is Mintaka. They're blue supergiants." Rigel and Betelgeuse had appeared as well, the former outshining the red star.

"Better than your ceiling?"

I nodded, tilting my head back and staring upwards at the pinpricks of light. "Uh huh."

Soon, the whole sky was lit up with meteors and red and blue and white stars. Finding and pointing out all the constellations and asterisms was like saying hello to old friends. And each time I found one I could hear my mother whisper in my ear, keeping count of each one I'd managed to identify. She was finally there, in the sky among the stars but right beside me, like a long-awaited hello.

"Twelve," Raphael announced when he saw another shooting star.

"Fourteen," I said, grinning and swinging my legs idly. Despite him spotting the fireball earlier, I'd since managed to catch sight of three that he hadn't, thus putting myself in the lead.

Raphael was not handling his current defeat very well. "Are you cheating?" He demanded.

I laughed, shoving him lightly with my shoulder. "Stop being a poor loser. I can't help that I'm a pro and you're a shitty amateur." Another meteor streaked across the sky.

Raph chuckled. "Thirteen."

"Fifteen." I shifted my position on the metal platform and looked at him, sitting with his shoulders slouched forward, elbows on his knees and hands clasped together, staring up at the sky as if it were both his first and last time.

"You remember when we almost died a few weeks ago?" I asked.

Raphael laughed and nodded. "Yeah."

"It kinda made me realize how many things I wish I'd told you before." Raphael tore his gaze from the night sky, staring intensely at me instead. I suddenly felt nervous under his gaze but continued. "I know I've only known you for like, five weeks, but you did stalk me for a few days–"

Raphael's loud groan cut me off. "I _wasn't_ stalking you."

I couldn't help my laugh, I just loved pestering him about it. "We did hang out a lot during those days and I think we got to know each other pretty well. It just feels like it's been way longer than just five weeks. And…I guess almost dying made me realize how much I loved hanging out with you and how much happier I've been since we met. I mean, not right away," I amended, "cuz you were a total ass at first. And then there was that time–"

"Ugh, Raiyaaa," he groaned again. "I know I was a dick, I'm _sorry._ "

I grinned and leaned against his arm. "I know, I just like bugging you." I tucked a strand of hair that had escaped my ponytail behind my ear. "Uhm, anyway, I guess what I'm saying is almost dying made me realize that I like you, and I just wanted you to know that." Raph stiffened and I immediately recoiled, worried I'd overstepped or freaked him out or something.

"Sorry," I said. "That's weird, isn't it?" _Shit. It totally is._

"No," he murmured. "I just…I was surprised…Sorry."

I nodded and we fell into silence, watching the night sky once again, a strange, awkward air suspended between us.

Raph exhaled through his nose. "Fuck it," he muttered. "I really like you, Raiy."

I blinked, my mouth falling half open, and turned to look at him, unable to believe he'd _finally_ admitted to it.

"I have for a while," he continued, staring deeply into my eyes. "I've been too afraid to tell you. And…Mikey kinda called dibs on you."

That time, my jaw _really_ dropped _._ "Well fuck that," I cried. "I'm declaring myself fair game."

A smile spread across his face and he breathed a laugh. "That's good news."

I grinned, completely in agreement with his statement. Raph's green eyes shone in the light of the stars, glancing down from my eyes to my lips; a silent question. My heart jumped anxiously in my chest, and I gave him a tiny nod in answer. Achingly slow, he lifted a hand to my cheek, brushing a finger across the trio of small scars. My heart raced and my eyes fluttered shut when he leaned down, drawing me close. And Raphael kissed me beneath the sky of stars.

 **AN: AND THATS A FUCKIN WRAP**

 **WOOHOOO**

 **So I started writing this story two years ago. The first draft took me about two months to write, this second draft took me about one year and ten months to finish, and I couldn't have done it without you guys. I started uploading this story to FanFiction almost a year ago when I was about halfway through writing it. The feedback and support I received from you guys was incredible and helped me so much to push myself to finish writing it. Honestly, I never would have been able to finish it without all of your guys' support and constant reviews. Seriously. Whenever I start writing a story I never finish it lol but you all helped me to finish the longest story I've ever written. For that, I cannot thank you guys enough!**

 **The second book, _The Shadow's Revelation,_ is already up on my profile so you can head over to read the extended summary and give it a follow to make sure you get the notification for the first chapter! I will also update this story letting you guys know when I post the first chapter of the sequel, just so everyone is aware!**

 **It's been a hell of a ride and I'm incredibly grateful you guys could join me on it. I look forward to seeing you all again for TSR!**

 **I love each and every one of you! :))**

 **And finally:**

 ** _The Shadow's Secret_**

 **60 CHAPTERS**

 **336 PAGES**

 **92,128 WORDS**

 **fuck yeah**

 **\- AfterDaybreak xoxo**


	62. Book 2 Update & TSS First Draft

**The first chapter for the sequel, _The Shadow's Revelation_ , is finally up and you guys can go check it out right now!**

 **I'd also like to share with you guys the very first draft of _The Shadow's Secret_ incase anyone is interested in reading it! (it's only 19,000 words so it won't take up much of your time lol) There are probably a million typos and very poor grammar choices, and it's hella cringeyand hardly any planning went into it so please no judging lmao I wrote it two years ago when I was fourteen and it only took me like two months so ya, it's gonna be pretty bad haha**

* * *

The Shadow's Secret _First Draft_

* * *

No one believed me.

They dismissed my story as a mere dream or tale to gain attention when I was younger.

But as I grew older, they all thought I was insane.

But I never gave up.

I spent years trying to find him again.

I couldn't give up; not when I'd witnessed something incredible.

* * *

I was walking home from school one day, back when I was around thirteen. I decided to take a short cut because I knew there was pizza waiting for me at home, so I turned down an alleyway. Everything was fine until these big smelly guys with beards suddenly formed a circle around me. I tried running from them but one of them grabbed me and threatened me with a knife to stay quiet. I kicked him in between his legs but when he dropped me, his buddies just grabbed me and tied a rag around my mouth so my screams were muffled. Then, this guy darted from a shadow and past one of my attackers. The big dude fell to the ground. The rest formed a circle around me, knives out. The guy came at them again, picking them off until only the one who had threatened me remained. In desperation, he grabbed me and held his knife to my throat, drawing a thin line of blood. I didn't dare struggle against him. A silver streak hit his knife away from me. I punched him and dove away as the shadow guy took him down. I squinted through the dust that hung in the air and tried my best to see what he looked like in the gloomy, sunless alley. He was bigger than the guys he just took out. He was really muscular too and he had a bald head, with dark skin and a sort of hunchback. He bent and picked the silver thing off the ground, he turned to look at me. And through the cloud of dust I glimpsed a pair of glinting, alien-ish blue eyes. And with that, my saviour disappeared into the shadows from whence he came.

I had gone after him of course, but the dark alley I followed him down led only to a dead end. As did most of my research. The few leads I got only remained stable and reliable for a short time before tapering off into nothing. I filled notebooks upon notebooks of notes, newspaper articles, photos, (possible) evidence, ideas, theories, stories, and anything I could find, no matter how ridiculous it sounded. It was my life. Those eyes had pierced through the shadows and into my mind forever. And since that memory was my only solid evidence, I had researched eyes for hours, trying to learn everything I could about them. I scrolled through countless pictures of all sorts until I made the unusual discovery that my saviour's eyes appeared to be those of a reptilian humanoid; reptilian referring more specifically, to a turtle.

* * *

"Pizza's here!" Olivia called. _Yes!_

"Bring it over here!"

"That delivery guy was so hot, I almost tipped him my number instead of cash." She set my boxes down in front of me and took hers over to sit on the couch in front of the TV. Netflix lit up the screen. I looked up from my notebook in time to see my sister giving me a concerned look,

"You should take a break Raiy, come watch a movie."

I shook my head, "can't."

She raised her eyebrows and selected a movie for me to see, "are you sure?" She drawled. The movie started playing. I snapped my notebook shut, snatched my pizza up and ran over to the other couch. Olivia laughed and threw me my favourite blanket. There were few things that made me pause my research, and one of them was Now You See Me. I had this uncontrollable love for it and I didn't know why. Olivia fell asleep halfway through the movie and began to snore so loud that I had to throw a pillow over her face. When the movie came to an end, I put all the pizza in the fridge and my notebook in my room. Then, I stumbled back to the couch where my spot was still warm and I fell asleep there, while gazing over the city that never sleeps.

* * *

My eyes snapped open and I bolted upright.

 _"Holy shit."_ I said and ran, partly blind, to my room. I crashed into something on my way there and cursed before continuing. I switched the light on and cursed again as my eyes took an eternity to adjust. Then, I scrambled for my notebook and computer. After screwing up my password a few times, I opened a safari window and googled a million things, writing my findings down. I barely registered the approaching footsteps,

"What are you doing?" Olivia yawned from the doorway.

"Researching, what does it look like?" I said without turning around in my chair to look at her.

"I suppose it's 3 in the morning," she muttered, "oh it's only 5:40, you're lucky, I just about lit all your notes on fire."

"If you did I would've thrown you in that fire to save all my shit." I rubbed the drowsiness from my eyes desperately, as it was hard to write anything legible.

"I'll make coffees." She muttered and left my room.

"And bring the leftover pizza!" I called desperately. She came back 15 minutes after with an insane amount of caffeine and microwaved pizza that I accepted greedily. She sat on the edge of my bed,

"Alright, let's hear it. What's your _'grand idea'_ this time?" She sipped her coffee.

"You won't like this one." I said grimly

"Uh huh, just tell me."

"Alright," I spun around in my swivel chair and took a bite of my pizza, "so he only appeared when I was in danger, right?" She nodded, "okay, so I'm doing a bunch of research right now and so far, I've figured out that the one thing all the witnesses of this guy have in common is that they were all in some sort of danger when he appeared," I showed her the screen of my computer which had an article about a girl, "she was mugged," I pulled up another article, "he was beat," I found another, and another and another, "rape, kidnapping, terrorist attacks, break-ins, robberies. All these incidents caused an event like the one I witnessed to happen. So I figured, all I need to do is-"

"Intentionally put yourself in danger in hopes of this shadow dude coming to save you?" She raised her eyebrows.

"Exactly!" Olivia sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of her nose in frustration, "you're insane."

"I know," I shoved the rest of the pizza in my mouth, spun around and started typing on my keyboard, "it's great!"

* * *

While most of the shadow dude's appearances occurred while the sun was down, I figured that if I went to the same place at the same time I was attacked, he would appear like last time. At least, if there was a reason for him to.

They weren't the same guys, but they still got up as I approached. I hurried my pace, portraying myself as a scared teen. One of them grinned toothily at another,

"We got ourselves a treat." The others laughed and blocked all my escape routes. The faint noise of metal grinding against pavement echoed down the same alley my saviour appeared from 5 years ago. _He came._

"You guys are _really_ going to regret this." I sang at the guys steadily closing in on me. One of them grinned slyly at me and spun a knife in his hand.

"Petty words like yours don't bother us no more."

"Well, I warned you." I shrugged innocently. He looked around and snorted a laugh,

"Bout what? The shadows? They gonna fight for you?" _You have no idea._ His buddies snickered. They weren't laughing for long though. Something huge darted past them and knocked one out. The other guys shuffled uneasily at the sight of their fallen comrade. I watched as the figure danced from shadow to shadow, dispatching the rest of the gang until none remained. I took no chances and chased after him right away,

"I knew you would come! I _knew_ it!" Blue eyes gazed back at me through the darkness, but no voice accompanied them.

"You saved me here 5 years ago," I prompted. The eyes tilted to the side, interested, "ever since then I've been trying to figure out who you are and why you saved me."

"I saved you because I hate bullies." He said and ran off.

" _Wait!_ Wait! Don't do this again! I have to talk to you! I have so many questions!" I stopped running to listen. _Nothing_ , "I know you can still hear me! And I know your hiding, like you have been all your life! I'm not trying to hurt you or anything, I just want to talk and say thank you!" Nothing, again. _Unbelievable!_ I almost called him a coward but then remembered what he could do to people. I spun on my heel and stomped off.

"I'll come out," I skidded to a halt at the sound of his voice, it was coming from somewhere on the wall of a building "but first, you have to prove I can trust you."

"Trust me with what?"

"Keeping my secret."

"Uhm okay well for starters I have no friends, I live with my sister in an apartment we share, the only family that visits are my grandparents once a month and I have pilot training twice a week with my uncle, I already know probably more than anyone else knows about you, and I've been searching for years for you and you were pretty hard to find so the least you can do is just tell me already and get out of the shadows for once. Like really, you can't be that ugly." I laughed. I thought I heard him laugh,

"Can I talk to you later tonight? I have to go." _Uh uh! Noway, buddy!_

"Oh bullshit, how do I know you're not going to ditch me?" I crossed my arms.

"Just be there."

"Where?"

"I'll send you the address."

"How?"

"I just will."

"Well that's specific." I muttered. He laughed out loud that time,

"I promise I'll be there if you promise not to tell anyone about this."

"Okay." After a moment, he left.

* * *

"How'd it go?" Olivia asked from the kitchen.

"He didn't show." I muttered, walking in as she cut up a salad.

"What happened then?" She sliced the wrapping off a cucumber.

"Well when I realized he wasn't coming, I pulled a WWE smackdown on one of the alley guys I was using as bait and the rest ran off after that." I swiped one of the cucumber slices hungrily. She nodded in approval,

"Nice. So back to your tireless research now?"

"Nope," her jaw dropped and she stopped cutting, I ate another "I reached the last dead end of this research campaign and I am _finished_ with it. _Wow!_ It feels _great_ to be single again!"

" _Now_ you give up!?" She watches me with wide eyes "WHAT THE _HELL_ RAIYA!?" My phone vibrated. I pulled it out and looked at the screen. An address in white font took up the whole black screen and continued to vibrate until I powered the whole thing down.

 _"WHO THE HELL IS TEXTING YOU? SINCE WHEN DO YOU GET TEXTS!?"_ She demanded.

"Chill, it was just a telemarketer!" I said innocently and slightly horrified from her reaction. I grabbed a head of romaine lettuce Olivia planned to use for her salad and ran to my room before she could tackle me for it,

"Fine then, you don't get any salad tonight!" She yelled.

"This _is_ my salad for tonight!" I peeled a leaf off and ate it while I added to my notes about my mysterious encounter. Halfway through recounting the event in my evidence notebook, I took out my phone and looked at the screenshot of the address I took. I wrote that down too. I couldn't stop thinking about Olivia though. I never thought I would have to lie to her about anything, especially this. But I made a promise I have to keep, so I couldn't tell her just yet. The excitement coursing through my entire body overtook my thoughts. I could hardly contain myself! I couldn't believe that after 5 years of restlessly searching, I was finally going to meet him!

* * *

 _4th ave & E 12th street._

I leaned carefully over the edge of the building and grinned with excitement at how high I was. I'd always loved heights. A heavy thump behind me made me jump with surprise. My smile fell away when I saw no sign of him,

"What is it with you and the shadows?" I demanded in frustration.

"Slide your phone away from you," he ordered. I sighed but did as he told me, "okay, and please just, don't freak out." This huge, 2-toed, green foot stepped from the shadows. Followed by another. He was massive. 6 feet tall at least. His biceps, shoulders and abs were amazingly toned. He wore black pants, a blue mask, and a strap of leather across his chest and a huge shell on his back. 2 huge, silver Japanese swords with black and blue hilts and grips sat sheathed on the leather. A blue NYC pin was clipped onto the leather strap, along with an odd looking walkie-talkie-transmitter-thing. A thin, faded scar ran down his forehead and appeared below his mask on his cheek. A black tattoo of 2 patterned lines encircled his upper right arm. Bands of cloth, leather, and even tape ran up his arms in random patterns.

"What are you?" I asked in wonder. He shifted his weight uneasily,

"When I was a normal turtle, I was injected with something that mutated me and turned me into this."

"Did it give you ninja powers too?" I nodded at the swords on his shell.

"Oh," he unsheathed them and twirled them around in his hands, creating a silver blur in the air, "no, I've been training in ninjutsu for years." I nodded and picked my phone up off the roof as he put the weapons away,

"Cool."

"You're not...scared?"

"Not really, I already know you're not going to hurt me after you've saved me, like, twice." I laughed and slung my bag off my shoulder. I took a notebook out and clicked a pen "are you...the only one?"

"Yeah," he sighed, then narrowed his eyes as he noticed me writing things down, "what are you doing?"

"Oh," I smiled sheepishly and held up the notebook, "sorry, I'm just making sure I don't forget anything you tell me."

"Can I see?"

"Uhm, sure, I guess," I handed him the notebook and he sat down in front of me, flipping through it. He gave it back without saying anything,

"sorry if that's all kind of creepy, I just, really wanted to find you and say thank you."

"You're welcome." Silence filled the air between us for a few moments.

"So what's your name?" I asked, then realized something, "oh sorry, I'm Raiya."

"Leonardo, but I prefer just Leo." He watched as I wrote everything down.

"Do you mind, if I ask you a few things?" I asked hesitantly. He shook his head,

"Fire away." I barely looked up as I asked more questions,

"Alright, so what's your favourite colour?"

"Blue."

"What's your favourite song?"

"I like so many, I'm not sure."

"Favourite artist?"

"Same thing."

"Favourite food?"

"Mediterranean pizza."

"Favourite movie?"

"Bourne Identity."

"Favourite pastime?"

"Being above ground."

"Favourite season?"

"Spring."

"Favourite book?"

"I haven't read many, but I really liked Tarzan."

"How did you learn English?"

"Exactly how you did. I grew up hearing it from the people on the streets and I slowly got the hang of it."

"Where do you live?"

"The sewers."

"How long have you lived in New York?"

"As long as I can remember."

"How old are you?"

"17."

"When's your birthday?" Leo shrugged,

"I don't know," _oh shit, nice going Raiya_. "I tried to figure it out a few years ago and I estimated that I must've been only been a few months old when I was mutated so I just counted the years since then and it added up to 17. I still can't remember the exact date though, I think it was sometime right after winter."

"What kind of serum was it?"

"Some sort of mutagen that could heal any living thing at a cellular level."

"Why did you choose to be a ninja?"

"They're silent, respected, skilled; and follow a code of honour. It's also the book I found in the sewer one day."

"Why do you come out only at night?"

"It's easier to hide in the dark."

"Why _do_ you hide?"

"I don't want everyone learning monsters are real. That would ruin the whole point of me saving people."

"Why do you save people?"

"I told you, I just hate bullies. And this city is infested with them."

"Why are you telling me all this and not someone else?"

"Because nobody has ever thanked me for saving them before, and you've been trying to for 5 years now. And because you didn't freak out when you saw me."

"How do I know you're not lying to me about all this?"

"You don't." He grinned and stood up, heading for the edge of the roof.

"Wait!" I called, clambering to my feet desperately. Leo turned to me. His blue eyes somehow seemed brighter in the dark of night, "can you stay for just a while longer? I want to quickly document your appearance." He tilted his head, amused.

"So you want to draw me?"

"Well, if you want to remove the technicality of it all, then yeah." He grinned and stepped away from the roof's edge,

"Alright, how do you want me to pose?" I scrambled for a pencil and a blank sheet of paper.

"Doesn't matter, but it has to be in good lighting so I can actually see you."

"Swords drawn?"

"Mmmmaybe."

* * *

"Where did you disappear to last night?" Olivia asked me the next morning as I struggled to stay awake while she made pancakes.

"I'm not exactly sure." I murmured.

"Are you hungover!?" She demanded, waving a spatula like a sword at me accusingly.

"No!" I sputtered. She held her hands up defensively,

"Well regardless, you either need more sleep or some food"

"Well thanks sis, I'll put it at the top of my list of to-dos!"

"Anytime!"

I laid my head down on the counter while she finished making breakfast.

"So what do you want to do today?" Olivia asked.

"Sleep" I muttered, accepting the plate she handed me.

"Woah there Raiy, don't get too adventurous." she warned sarcastically.

"What can I say, I'm feeling pretty wild."

"Well how about we have a movie marathon today, so you can fall asleep whenever and we can order in again," I gave her a thumbs up as I crushed a pile of pancakes, "okay, so we can watch Madagascar Terminator, The Exorcist, Jurassic Park, Bourne, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman, Scary Movie, Insidious, Hunger Games, Ice Age, or literally any of the Marvel superheroes." She awaited my reply. I was not mentally prepared to handle a horror movie today, if I watched one I might piss myself. Not Hunger Games, or else I would have to track down Jennifer Lawrence and murder her. My mind was too slow today to comprehend Terminator. Batman was just boring, I don't know why it even qualified as an option. I wasn't really feeling Jurassic Park, the second one was just too awful. But hey, I haven't seen Bourne in a while, and Hawkeye was in the last one...

* * *

Someone knocked on the door just as Jason Bourne commenced yet another police chase.

"Dibs out!" I called, putting my finger on my nose and throwing the other hand to the floor. Olivia sighed heavily and got up to pay the Mikado's delivery guy. When she returned, I thrust my hands out eagerly from beneath my blanket,

"Dragon Eye me!" I ordered.

"You have to say p-" a quiet vibration from somewhere in the apartment made us go silent. It was continuous and without an accompanying ringtone. _Leo_.

"I'll get it." She stood and walked off. I shoved a Dragon Eye in my mouth and jumped off the couch, running full throttle to my phone before she could reach it. I quickly screenshotted the address and powered it down to stop the vibrations. I turned to see Olivia giving me a weird look,

"Are you okay?" She asked oddly

"Yep, but now I'm missing Bourne!" I took my phone with me back to the couch and ate while I waited. When it finally turned back on, I read the message, this time it contained an address, and a time; 3 am. _Shit_. Better start sleeping now.

* * *

"Leo?" I called hesitantly into the shadows. I sighed in relief as a pair of blue eyes shone from the darkness and met my own, "oh good," I said as he stepped into the moonlight "I was worried I was in the wrong place...so why did you want to see me at 3 in the morning?"

"Oh yeah, sorry," he smiled sheepishly, "it just worked best with my schedule today."

"Schedule?" My fingers itched to grab a notebook and write this all down.

"Yeah. I have a life you know." Leo grinned.

"I know but, what's your average schedule?"

"It's never the same."

"Okay, so what's your schedule for today?"

"That's classified."

"Even for research purposes?" I pouted, clutching a notebook innocently.

"Why are you still researching me? You don't have to anymore."

"I don't know," I murmured, "maybe it's just a habit, maybe I feel like this is all a dream and I need to retain as much as possible, or maybe I want to learn as much as I can and write it down so if you end up running off, I can find you easier." Something awful flashed in his eyes and he backed away from me, tense in case of danger.

"Are you working for them?" He demanded.

"Working for wh-"

"Are you working for them!?" He drew a sword lightning fast and pointed it centimetres from my throat, "are you working for the Footclan!?"

"The _Footclan!?_ " I sputtered, "are you _shitting_ me!? Why would I do that!?"

"Why else would you be trying so hard to find me!? _Ergh_ I'm so stupid for not seeing this earlier!"

"Leo, I promise I have nothing to do with them." I said desperately. He turned to me, apologetic for some reason,

"If you're telling the truth, then I'm sorry." He moved faster than light and my vision went black.

* * *

"Oh my god, _still!?_ You've been asleep _forever!_ " _Olivia._

"What the hell?" I muttered, sitting up in my bed groggily.

"Oh good, I did _not_ want to arrange a funeral." She spun around in my swivel chair beside my desk. In our apartment. Not on a roof. Not talking to a mutant turtle. _What the hell happened?_

"What the hell happened?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

"I have no idea, you passed out on the couch at like 6 and somewhere between 1 in the morning and 7 you must have migrated into your room and you've literally been asleep ever since."

"What time is it?"

"Almost 3." _Leo._

"Where's my phone?" I demanded, jumping to my feet.

"Right here," she handed it to me and walked out of my room, "you're not very popular though, so don't get too excited." My phone opened on a screenshot of a new address. My mind was racing. _Why does Leo still want to see me? What the hell happened?_

* * *

"Leo what the _hell!?_ " I demanded angrily as soon as I stepped onto the roof at 1 in the morning. There was no movement in the shadows, "oh come on! I know you're hiding!" He slowly stepped out of the darkness,

"Raiya I'm really sorry I did what I did, but I had to. I wanted to trust you and I always thought I could, but I just had to be sure."

"What the hell did you do to me?" I demanded, he sighed and laced his hands behind his head before answering,

"I targeted a muscle that knocked you unconscious, then I brought you to the sewers where Donnie scanned your eyes to prove you really were who you said you were and read through all your files to make sure there was no secret Footclan activity. Then I brought you back to your apartment."

"Who the hell is _Donnie_ , Leo!?"

"I'm sorry I had to lie, but I could never completely trust you until I knew..."

"And now you do know so what else do you have to tell me?"

"A lot," he sighed "come on." I stepped away as he tried to grab me.

"Noway. Tell me where we're going."

"My home in the sewers so you can meet my family and they can help explain everything." I squeaked in surprise when Leo picked me up and carried me over to the edge of the roof, then jumped off the edge without hesitation. He dove into a sewer panel and slid trough the underground tunnels on his shell until he landed in the middle of this...place. It was like the ultimate man cave, if it didn't smell like shit.

Leo and I were in a huge, octagonal room. We stood on this pedestal kind of thing in the middle of a depression in the concrete floor, far above us, a fan turned slowly. 4 of the 8 walls had big arches in them and led to other rooms. The other 4 walls were solid, aside from a few big, circular ports like the one we just came in from and an upper walkway that allowed access to more ports. Wires and pipes ran everywhere along the walls, along with an amazing amount of graffiti. Music blared and voices boomed from somewhere in the underground fortress. Leo set me down just as the music was abruptly turned off and a voice called his name,

"Yeah?" He yelled back.

"Is the girl with you again?"

He smiled, "yeah."

"Dead, alive or comatose?"

"Alive." The music cut off abruptly.

"Holy shit," the same voice whispered, "noway. She's awake this time…how do I look?"

"Like you live in the sewers." Another snorted.

"Guys, guys, she can hear us." A third voice warned and they went quiet for a moment.

"Hey beautiful!" The first one shouted and the others hurriedly shushed him and hissed 'Mikey' at him angrily.

"Hey guys, how about you get over here and introduce yourselves in person." Leo called, grinning.

"Uh, I don't know if I can-" A short, light green turtle stumbled from the shadows of an archway. He had grey-blue eyes almost exactly like my own, wore an orange mask, orange basketball shorts, a grey hoodie tied around his waist, a beaded necklace, and a backpack strapping a weird looking skateboard to his shell and a transmitter on one strap near his shoulder.

"Raiya, right?" He asked nervously. I nodded, feeling like I was being introduced as Leo's girlfriend to the rest of his family, "I'm Michelangelo, better known as Mikey. Sorry Leo kept you away from us for so long."

"It was 2 days." He argued.

"48 hours is like 48 _years_." 2 other turtles appeared behind him, slightly obscured by darkness. Both taller than Leonardo and Mikey, the skinnier one approached me first,

"Hi, I'm Donatello, but uh, just call me Donnie. I'm glad to see you're conscious this time." Leo sighed heavily from behind me and I smiled,

"So am I." Donatello was the tallest of the brothers and was less muscular than the rest. I assumed from his gear that he was usually the brains of the operation. He wore olive-green cargo pants, a purple mask, had hazel eyes, big glasses with masking tape on the bridge, high tech goggles resting on his forehead, purple strands of cloth lacing up his forearms, a big, weird watch, a transmitter on a strap over his shoulder and an ensemble of gadgets on his shell, along with a weird stick. The other turtle, the huge one, remained silent and away from the group, party concealed in a patch of darkness. Donnie caught me looking at him,

"Oh don't mind Raphael, he's sort of antisocial."

"Well I was planning on introducing myself but it looks like you've taken care of that for me." Raphael grumbled from the darkness.

"No! Do not enrage the hulk while in the presence of our beautiful guest!" Mikey yelled desperately. Donnie nodded towards him like he seconded the warning.

"Where's Sensei?" Leo asked

"Above ground again." Mikey said absently.

"Wait, you're actually going to tell him about her?" Donnie asked incredulously.

"Yeah, I have to. He has to explain everything to her."

"Didn't you already?" Raphael sighed and walked off, bored.

"Well, sort of. I tried to but she was kinda mad and I figured it would be easier if Sensei told her everything instead since he knows more than us."

"Hey," I waved a hand in the air, "she's right here."

"Sorry." they said simultaneously. Mikey rolled his eyes,

"Quality hosts huh?"

"Oh yeah, the best."

"Don't worry I'm taking over. We're going on a tour!"

Mikey showed me around for a little before Leo returned to finish the tour while we waited for their Sensei to show up. Basically every room connected to one another in some way. One of the archways from the octagonal room led to a room filled with instruments, they called it the jam room. Another arch brought us to the turtle's bedroom. Hammocks hung from the roof, a shelf holding a million boxes painted purple, orange, blue and red stood against a wall. Through another arch, there was a living area with couches. On the other side of the living room, the wall was covered in computer screens showing live images from all over the city and the sewers. Past the monitor wall, an arch opened to a dining area and another room with another pedestal that was a training room. The training room also led off to a smaller room filled with weapons, called the weapons room. The last arch from the octagonal room led to their Sensei, Splinter's, room. I asked Leo if their Master was like them.

"Well, sort of, he's a rat." _A rat!?_

"Uhm okay, wow," I laughed and shook my head, "I really can't wait to hear your guys' story."

"Yeah, me too."

"Wait, you've never heard it either?" _How can they not know how they became what they are?_ I sat at the table in the dining room with him. Leo placed a box of pizza on the table in front of me. I took a triangle of 5 cheese pizza hungrily. I could really get used to this place.

"No, Sensei never told us."

"So what _do_ you know?" I asked, taking a bite of the microwaved pizza.

"Just that we were injected with a serum when we were really young. Sensei was a lot older than us so he raised us and taught himself Ninjutsu, then us. He always believed that when we grew up we would be heroes and keep the city safe. Even though he still doesn't trust us to go up there and fight-"

"But wait, you saved me when I was eleven."

"Yeah. I always snuck out so I got beneficial field practice. And yeah, that's all he ever told us."

"So, he doesn't know about me at all?"

"No."

"Alright, what's the worst case scenario when he _does_ find out?"

"I'm not sure. Probably somehow make you forget all this happened and possibly relocate us to a different city."

"Well at least I won't become an exotic pizza topping." I laughed nervously, he grinned,

"Yeah. But I'm sure it won't come to that." I nodded,

"So what's up with the Italian Renaissance names?"

"I have _no_ clue," he laughed, "when I was bored one day I researched who we're all named after. Leonardo Da Vinci was a painter, scientist and engineer. Donatello was a sculptor. Michelangelo was also a sculptor but a painter, architect and poet too. Raphael was also a painter and architect...Don't mind him by the way, like Donnie said earlier. He's not very good around other people, even us sometimes. And if he does decide to talk to you, just don't let him get to you."

I nodded again, "so what do you guys do down here everyday?" My eyes darted to my bag sitting on the floor beside me, instinctively telling me I needed to document this.

"Nothing, really. I've been going above ground every night so that gave me something to do. But the others usually train, eat, watch the monitors' feeds from the city, read the few books we find laying around the sewers, sometimes play a game we came up with as kids, or sleep," Leo noticed how I was forcing my hands to not whip out a notebook, he laughed, "you can write this all down, don't worry." I smiled sheepishly and snatched a notebook and pen,

"So wait, are you guys nocturnal?"

"Not really. We don't feel tired very often, and when we do, a 2 hour nap fixes it. So we really just sleep whenever. But we can only go above ground under the cover of darkness, or else we'll be seen so we kind of seem nocturnal." I scrawled Leo's words down as he said them.

"But it was the middle of the day when you saved me."

"I was smaller then and you were in a dark alley. Plus, there was a sewer grate right there, so I took the chance," I felt his eyes on me as I wrote this all down, "now it's my turn to ask questions." I looked up, surprised,

"Okay." I put my pen down and shifted in my seat.

"What's your favourite colour?" My grin matched his,

"Red."

"How old are you?"

"16."

"When's your birthday?"

"August 22."

"Is that your actual hair colour?" He asked incredulously. I grinned and pulled a strand of red hair over my lip like a moustache,

"Au naturel." Leo chuckled,

"That's pretty cool. What's your favourite season?"

"Summer."

"Where did you grow up?"

"Arizona."

"What's your favourite song?"

"So Over You by The Mission District."

"Favourite movie?"

"Now You See Me."

"Favourite book?"

"Legend."

"Favourite food?"

"Pizza or lettuce."

"Like just plain lettuce?" I nodded and he laughed, "well that's interesting. What's your favourite animal?"

"A sugar glider possum."

"What about your favourite subject in school?"

"Science. Physics more specifically."

"Favourite pastime?"

"Drawing, watching movies or flying," Leo looked baffled and I smiled, "my uncle is a helicopter pilot here in New York so he gives me lessons twice a week."

"Oh yeah, you mentioned that. Why are you living alone with your sister? Where's the rest of your family?"

"They're really split up and like all over the place, a few are still in Arizona I think. My parents divorced, then my dad went to jail and my mom died a few years later. Luckily, Olivia was old enough to legally take care of me and we moved here, mainly to get away from our family."

"Sounds rough." I shrugged,

"We're used to it."

"Okay, if you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go?"

"Iceland."

"Really, why?"

I shrugged, "The black sand beaches, all the amazing scenery and hikes...I actually think you can go on hikes through glaciers there."

"Sounds cold," he laughed "what's your full name?"

"Emmalyn Raiya Carter."

"You go by your middle name?"

"Yeah," my face flushed, embarrassed, "I don't like Emmalyn."

"Do you have a boyfriend!?" Mikey called, perched on the railing on the other side of the lair.

"Say yes." Leo whispered.

"No!" I grinned as he pumped his fist in the air and asked another question,

"What's your type?" Leo hurled a soccer ball at him so Mikey would fall off the railing, then he turned to me,

"Don't answer that." There was a loud crash as the turtle landed on the concrete floor.

"Okay." I laughed and Mikey groaned,

"I smell pizza," He murmured, then bolted upright in horror, "am I in heaven!?" Leo closed his eyes and sighed deeply through his nose. I laughed and grabbed another piece of pizza as Mikey walked over.

"Girl are you eating all my pizza!?" He demanded accusingly.

"Nope." I said, mouth full.

"You better not be." he sat in a chair beside me and stacked 3 pizza slices on top of each other before shoving them into his mouth. He nodded toward my notebook, licking sauce off his face and fingers,

"What's that?"

"One of my notebooks."

"One of?" he whistled and grabbed more pizza, "how many do you have?" I thought for a moment,

"10, I think," he spit out his pizza, showering Leo in chewed food, "no wait, 7."

"Well that's much better," Mikey said sarcastically, then looked at Leo, "sorry man, I wasn't prepared for that big a number." Leo glared at him, then got up and left to clean the pizza off of him. Donnie walked in as he left,

"What happened to Leo?" He asked confused.

"I scared Mikey," I admitted with a smile.

"I wasn't prepared for 10."

"7." I corrected

"What?" Donnie stood with a concerned look on his face.

"What do you even _put_ in 10 notebooks!?" Mikey demanded

"Mikey asked how many notebooks I have and I said 10 accidentally, but really I have 7 and they're filled with information of Leo I gathered over the last 5 years."

 _"Stalker alert."_ Mikey hissed, sipping an orange crush that seemed to magically appear beside him.

"Do you mind if I look at them?" Donnie asked.

"Not at all." I handed him my bag and the notebook I had on the table.

"Oh wow, you can draw too." _Shit. I forgot about the sketch I did of Leo._ My face flushed.

"Bro lemme see." Donnie showed him the page depicting Leo. Mikey whistled,

"Girl you have some _insane_ stalking skills."

"Thanks." I smiled sheepishly. There were a few minutes of silence before Donnie sighed in frustration,

"Raph, stop being impolite." He scolded.

"I'm not." The voice came from a shadowy corner.

"Hiding where our guest can't see you and eavesdropping is considered impolite."

"I was just watching in silence." He objected.

"Well it's about time you introduce yourself, so get over here."

"Alright." He grumbled and stepped into the light.

He was huge, almost taller than Donnie. His arms were massive and muscular, a red band of cloth wrapped around his bicep, along with multiple scars. He wore black pants, taped at his waist, ankles and around his feet. A super defined six-pack sat above the waistline of his pants. A strap of leather ran across his chest and over the back if his shell with a transmitter clipped to it at his shoulder and a dirty, silver swiss army knife at his chest. 2 big daggers hung at his hips. He wore a worn, red bandana that had a dull white Japanese symbol on the top of his head. His bright green eyes shone through the holes in the bandana mysteriously. He had a scar near his lip and another, larger scar on his right shoulder in the shape of a Japanese symbol.

"I'm Raphael," he said, "you can call me Raph." And he left.

"Sorry, he can be like that sometimes." Donnie apologized, flipping through another notebook.

"He's lying, Raph's like that _all_ the time," Mikey corrected, then Leo walked in, "hey man, you just missed a miracle. Raph said hello!" He thought for a second, "well...sort of." Leo grinned and looked over Donnie's shoulder at one of my notebooks.

"Cool, huh?" His brother nodded as he scanned the current page,

"Ye-" He was cut off by a loud clang of metal.

"Sensei's home," Leo hissed and grabbed my stuff from Donnie, shoved it all in my bag and gave it to me. Then ushered me to a hiding spot, "just until I know for sure Sensei won't hurt you." He said as if the words would reassure me.

"I'll stay with her." Donnie offered. Leo nodded and dragged Mikey away. I clutched my bag to my stomach as I leaned against the concrete wall. The turtle sat down beside me silently. Loud, unintelligible words were exchanged for a while before the voices lowered for a while longer. Then, Leo called Donnie's name. He stood up and offered me his hand. I took it and he pulled me to my feet.

"Ready?" He asked. I shook my head,

"Nope."

He smiled, "come on." I slung my bag over my shoulders and followed him to Splinter's room where Leo, Mikey and Raphael were already gathered. I held myself together upon seeing the rat, I even think I smiled at him. He was shorter than the turtles, and covered in brown-grey fur, that grew longer under his chin and nose like a moustache and beard. He wore a yellow robe with Japanese symbols on it, a black belt, and weird, wooden sandals. The grey hair on his head was pulled back in a man-bun. His room had a low table in the middle of it, with pillows lain around it. The back wall was completely made up of tightly stacked stereos. All eyes were on me as I walked up to the rat. _How the hell do I introduce myself!? What do I even do!?_

"Hi. I'm, uh, Raiya Carter."

"Yes, Leonardo told me everything. May I see your notebooks?" I awkwardly handed him the bag. He spent a while sifting through them all before sitting down on one of the pillows,

"Please, sit," he offered. I took it more as an order and sat across from him. The brothers sat down as well, "do not be afraid of me, Raiya. Or any of us. We are not monsters or aliens or anything of the sort. The turtles and I were normal. As part of an experiment, we were injected with a mutagen that could heal things at a cellular level. The men running this experiment were Eric Sacks and Kirby O'Neil. If you do not know this already, Eric Sacks is allied with the Footclan. The Footclan's leader, Shredder, is like a father to Sacks. The mutagen injected into us was a part of their plan to take over the city in some way. And when Kirby O'Neil discovered this, he set fire to the lab and tried to destroy everything. He died doing so. The brothers and I were still regular animals in wire cages and we had noway to escape. Then, the mutagen in my blood began to take effect and I was able to break out of my cage and help the turtles. I ushered them to the sewers, where the mutagen took full effect and turned us into what we are now. We wandered around until I found this place. I raised the turtles here. And as they grew up, I realized they had the potential to save the city from the Footclan. One day, I chanced upon an old book discerning the art of Ninjutsu. After I taught myself, I taught the brothers. They excelled at a wondrous rate and developed a growing passion for martial arts. And though I am extremely disappointed in Leonardo for disobeying my orders, my anger is somewhat satisfied by his actions and intentions. And it also seems that he has gained a valuable ally through what he's done…you are the only human who knows our secret, Raiya. You need to understand that. Leonardo has deemed you trustworthy of our secret and I will trust his decision, so long as the brothers also agree to this." He looked over at the turtles expectantly.

"She's done impressive research over the last 5 years and shows promise as an ally. I read over all the files to make sure she has no Footclan related activity, and she's completely clean. And she hasn't told anyone yet...I think she can be trusted." Donnie answered.

"Yeah, as long as she doesn't eat all my pizza, she's cool." I grinned and looked at Raph, a bit nervous for his answer. He just shrugged,

"When she goes above ground, somebody should always be watching her." Okay well aside from the creepy aspect of that, _ARE YOU SHITTING ME!? WHAT THE HELL AM I GOING TO DO, SCREAM YOUR EXISTENCE AT A PARADE!?_ Splinter nodded thoughtfully,

"Yes, that sounds reasonable. Since you think it is necessary, that can be your job, Raphael." The turtle's jaw clenched as well as his fists,

"Yes, Sensei." he said angrily through his teeth. Splinter then turned to me,

"Now there is only one other pressing matter. Have you told anyone else of our existence?"

"No...we-ll...my sister, Olivia, knows everything up to the part where I lured Leonardo out. But I did what Leo told me and told her that he didn't show up and that I gave up on the whole researching thing." Splinter stroked his beard,

"That is an issue for another time. Leonardo, did anybody witness you meeting with Raiya?"

"Not to my knowledge, Sensei."

"Good, we must be very cautious."

"Yes Sensei." The brothers murmured simultaneously.

"Thank you, Raiya. For agreeing to keep our secret." Splinter smiled at me, I nodded,

"I'll help you guys in any way I can," I grinned at Donnie "feel free to hijack my phone whenever you like."

* * *

"You're not very talkative, are you?" I asked. No reply. Then,

"You're very observant." I grinned,

"Thanks." Raphael led me through the sewers until he stopped below a storm drain. He peeked through the top of it, then pushed the panel out of the way,

"It's clear." He hoisted me out into an empty alley, then climbed out after me. He gazed around like he was in the middle of a new world.

"Have you ever been up here?" I asked.

"No." Raphael scaled the side of a building before I could say anything else. _Whatever_. I walked back to my apartment, glancing at the roofs every so often in attempt to catch a glimpse of Raph. But he was a ghost in the night.

* * *

My alarm went off at 7. I groaned and turned it off, confused. _Why wa-shit. Flight training._ Hurriedly, I threw clothes on, brushed my teeth and grabbed my phone on my way out. I couldn't take the car since Olivia would be needing it for work, so I basically ran the whole way there, stopping for breakfast at one point. Then I remembered something. _Raph. Is he still watching me?_ I scanned the roofs surrounding my uncle's hangar but saw nothing. _Maybe he went back to the sewers when the sun came out._ I checked the time on my phone: _8:13. Right on time._ My training was supposed to start in 2 minutes. I went searching for my uncle, one of the few remaining family members who didn't avoid us. He was my mom's brother so he wasn't as bad as my dad's side of the family. The grandparents that visit me and Olivia sometimes are also from my mom's side.

Okay so little bit of a history lesson: my dad's family hated each other to begin with. They were all criminals and druggies. So my mom's family was not very happy and barely spoke to us when my parents got married. And then my dad went to jail which made everything even worse. After my mom died, some of her family pitied us and helped us move to New York. My grandparents come to visit every month to see that we're getting along alright and my uncle Thomas helps by teaching me how to fly so I can get into a good college after I graduate, get my commercial pilot license and get a job with high pay. At least, that's how I think it's going to work.

I found uncle Thomas inside the hangar, filling his helicopter with gas.

"Hello?" I called he jumped and turned to face me,

"Raiya you scared me." He chuckled. Uncle Tom was young, in his late twenties. He was tall and built, with unruly brown hair, a fair amount of dark stubble and grey eyes.

"Sorry." I laughed. He waved it off and finished filling the gas tank. When he looked closer at my face, his smile fell away,

"You look tired. Do you still want to fly today?"

"Yeah, I'm good. There's noway I can pass up this perfect flying weather. What are we doing today?"

"Well I'm not sure I can trust you with the controls right now," he quirked a smile, "so how about the basics?"

"Sounds good to me." I stifled a yawn.

"Alright, hop in." He opened the door for me and handed me my helmet from the copilot seat.

"Thanks." I took it and strapped it on, then climbed in and shut the door behind me. Uncle Tom got in on the other side. He shot me a grin and started the engine. The propellers started to rotate as he opened the hangar roof above us. Soon, we were out in the open, New York air.

* * *

My interaction with the turtles over the next week was fairly regular. Usually, as soon as Olivia fell asleep, Raphael or Leo was there to lead me through the sewers and I hung out with the brothers for a while before they showed me the way back. I'd basically memorized the route there and I always told them I could get there and home on my own, but Leo didn't allow it. On nights before my flight training, I didn't stay out very long. I also downsized my research by a lot. Splinter offered to safeguard my notebooks in their lair in case somebody found them in my apartment, like Olivia or Footclan soldiers. So I barely ever wrote in them anymore. For once in my life, everything was going pretty well.

* * *

I woke up in a blue hammock, confused as hell. I was in this... _place_. The walls were covered in graffiti, there were loud voices and it smelled like shit. Panic started to set in when I remembered last night. I'd fallen asleep while hanging out with the turtles. Leo must have carried me to his hammock after I passed out. _Shit! Olivia! Where's my phone!?_ I moved around in the hammock, checking my pockets and the crevasses between the pillows around me but I found nothing. I peered over the edge of the hammock and at the surrounding concrete floor; still nothing. I shuffled my way awkwardly out of the monstrous hammock and almost fell to the ground in the process. _What time is it?_ I groaned and rubbed sleep from my eyes as I stumbled-shoeless and half blind-to my feet. I grabbed for something to support me and came across a small dresser. On top of it, sat my phone and wallet. _Well that was easy._ And at the foot of it, my shoes awaited my feet. I fumbled to turn my phone on. _11:42. Shit._ I pulled my shoes on and headed towards the voices. Mikey and Donnie were sitting at the dining table, eating.

"Check it out, it's sleeping beauty!"

"Hey guys," I smiled tiredly and sat down beside them, "where's Leo and Raph?" Donnie shrugged,

"Beats me." He lifted a pizza box over and offered me some.

"I'm good, thanks." As much as I loved pizza, I should not have been eating it as much as I did, especially for breakfast. Mikey watched me with an odd look on his face,

"You okay, Raiya?" He asked, concerned.

"Yeah...well, sort of. I just don't know what to tell Olivia."

"You fell asleep at a friend's place." Donnie offered. I snorted,

"She'll think I'm lying." His brow creased in confusion,

"How?"

"Because I have no friends." Mikey's jaw dropped,

" _What!?_ But you're like," he motioned to me vigorously and searched for words, "you know." I nodded,

"Thanks Mikey."

"Tell her you got up early and went out, forgot to leave a note and your phone died." Donnie suggested and I nodded,

"Assuming she didn't get up early herself that could work, thanks." I stood to leave but they both immediately protested,

"We can't let you leave when you haven't eaten anything." Donnie explained.

"I'm just going to pick up something on my way home," I said, walking towards the exit. Instead, I ran right into Raphael, "Holy shit!" I stumbled backwards but he grabbed the front of my hoodie to steady me.

"Where's-?"

"Right here." Leo appeared beside Raph holding a plastic shopping bag. He handed it to me and I laughed as I extracted 4 heads of romaine lettuce, 2 icebergs and a bottle of this mocha cappuccino protein drink.

"How did you manage to get all this?" I asked incredulously, still grinning. Leo shrugged,

"We have our ways."

"Well thanks," I smiled, grabbed the protein drink and a head of romaine, removed the hard bottom of the lettuce, then put the rest in the fridge to eat later, "I'll eat on the way home, Olivia's probably having a heart attack." Leo volunteered immediately,

"I'll walk you home."

* * *

"WHERE HAVE YOU _BEEN!?_ " Olivia demanded the second I closed the door behind me. She rounded a corner and appeared-fuming-in front of me.

"Woah," I held my hands up, "chill. I left early this morning and forgot to leave a note, then my phone died while I was out so I couldn't text you." She crossed her arms, unsatisfied.

"Where did you go?"

"A job interview," I lied, "at Vapiano." Olivia narrowed her eyes and frowned,

"Why didn't you tell me yesterday?"

"I have no idea, I was _so_ tired when I got home that my Alzheimer's kicked in and I just fell asleep."

"Oh," she thought for a moment, "well how did it go!?"

"Uhm, I dunno I kinda panicked and I think I blew it." I raked a hand through my hair grimly.

"Aww," her face fell, "well you'll get it next time. Hungry?" She turned and sauntered into the kitchen. I just ate a whole head of lettuce, I was far from hungry.

"Not really, I had lunch on my way home." I sat down on the couch as she poked her head out of the kitchen,

"Let's go out tonight. I've been _dying_ for Olive Garden" _Sure why not? I've been living off pizza all week anyways._

"Aw hell yeah, we're getting like thirty breadsticks."

* * *

I climbed out onto the roof of my apartment building after Olivia fell asleep, hoping to see Leo instead of Raphael. But instead of a smiling turtle in blue I was met by a huge, scowling one in red.

"Come on." He said and ran off across the tops of the buildings, I sighed and chased after him, eventually having to climb down and follow from the streets. Raph always did that. I found him waiting for me at the storm drain.

"Well thanks for waiting." I muttered. He snorted and moved the panel aside for us to climb down into. Then his head snapped up as if he were a bloodhound and he just caught a scent.

"Wait here." Raphael ran off down the alley. _What the hell!?_ I almost yelled his name but stopped myself. Instead, I ran after him before he got too far away.

I don't know how far I ran but it seemed like forever until I found the reason Raphael took off; a huge group of Footclan soldiers were raiding the docks. _Wait...we ran all the way to the coast!?_ I made a mental note to kick Raphael's ass, but first I had to get out of there before I was seen. I turned and ran right into a black figure. A hand clamped over my mouth and an arm wrapped across my arms, restraining my movement. I struggled against their grip and tried to call for help but to no avail. Quick voices conversed in a different language through comms. I tried to bite the hand clasped across my mouth and kick out with my legs but it made no difference. There was pressure on the inside of my wrist, then a sharp pain. Though I quickly forgot about it as my feet and hands were tied tightly behind my back and a gag was tied around my mouth. Then, I was locked into an empty transport crate. _Where the hell is Raphael!?_ Swimming in darkness, I struggled against my bonds and prayed that Raph didn't abandon me.

 _Bang!_

I stopped shuffling and listened. Something had crashed against the crate I sat in. There were yells and rapid gunfire. Then everything went quiet. _It was over. The raid was stopped._ Annoyed, I waited impatiently while Raphael took his time busting down the entrance to the crate. He walked briskly over to me and used his knife to cut away the rope. I removed the gag from my mouth immediately,

"Explanation! Now!" I demanded, "why the _hell_ did you run off all the way to the god _damn_ _docks_ , attack the _Footclan_ and let them _throw_ me in there!?" I waved at my short livedprison.

"I saved you." he said drily.

"Yeah, after you dragged me into that shit it was the least you could do!" I shot back, fuming.

"I told you to stay put but you didn't listen!" He yelled.

"Yeah, because I had no idea what you were doing and I didn't want you to be seen, _dumbass!_ " I looked around, worried, "what did you even _do_ with the Foot soldiers?"

"Tied 'em together and left them laying on the ground" _Well that's just great, Raph, good job._ I sighed in exasperation,

"Whatever. Let's just go."

* * *

"You endangered the lives of everyone here!" Splinter paced the length of his room, lashing his tail angrily, "what were you _thinking_ , Raphael!?" Raph stood in front of him,

"I knew I could stop them." He grumbled.

"And you did, but now they are aware of your presence and will soon learn of ours! They know what Raiya looks like and will find her again! You think only of yourself and not of others! You must _always_ consider the consequences your actions will inflict and who they will be inflicted upon. I am _very_ disappointed in you, Raphael." All the while, Raph appeared untroubled by his words. In fact, he looked _bored_. Exhausted with Raph, Splinter turned to me,

"I'm terribly sorry, Raiya. You should not have been affected by Raphael's reckless actions," I decided it was best that I didn't say anything, so I just nodded instead, "you may leave if you wish." I took his offer as more of a suggestion and left, making my way to the training cave. Leo peeled away from a shadowy corner and walked beside me,

"Sensei's pissed." He noted.

"Yeah, no kidding. Now that I'm gone, he's probably ripping Raph apart back there." I grimaced and Leo's brow creased in confusion,

"You don't want him to get in trouble?" I snorted,

"Ifcourse I do, but I hate that he's made Splinter so mad again because of his own stupidity. And he doesn't even care which makes it even worse. If I could, I'd rip him apart myself," I shook my head, still in disbelief as we sat down at the dining table where Mikey was devouring a box of 5 cheese pizza.

"Who are we ranting about?" He asked behind a mouthful of pizza.

"Raphael." I swiped a piece of pizza he was grabbing for and took a huge bite before he could snatch it away from me.

He sighed in defeat, "the pizza bandit strikes again," I grinned triumphantly and claimed another piece, "what'd he do this time?"

"Dragged Raiya into getting captured by the Footclan while he stopped them from raiding the docks." Leo muttered.

"Oooooo, that's way worse than spray painting the Sacks skyscraper. I'll bet my copy of _Space Jam_ that Sensei's ripping his shell off in there," I tried to hide my laugh, _Space Jam?_ "girl what are you laughing at?"

"Nothing."

"Good," he chewed absently on his pizza. Then his eyes widened and he inhaled sharply as if remembering something. He wolfed down the rest of his pizza, "I'll be _right_ back!" Mikey ran to their bedroom and reappeared seconds later holding a model helicopter in his palm. His brothers groaned upon seeing it.

"I can't figure out how to fly this thing! And you know how to fly helicopters so..."

"Mikey, I fly _real_ helicopters, not remote control ones," I laughed. _But hey, that thing looks kinda cool._ I grinned, "but I'll give it a whirl." He pumped his fist and set the slightly wrecked copter on the floor, extended the remote's antennae, and flicked it on. A red light blinked on the remote. He moved all the joysticks and pressed all the triggers but it stayed stationary the whole time.

"See!" Mikey said. I glanced over the remote and the red light on it, then to the helicopter. _Wait a minute..._ I picked up the model helicopter and turned it over, searching for something... _there it is!_ I flicked the switch in the side of it's belly and set it down, a red light now glowing on it's side. Mikey tried one of the joysticks again. The propellers started spinning faster and faster until it lifted off the ground.

"And we have lift off!" Mikey high-fived me as the copter hovered in the air, " _sweet!_ Thanks girl!" he flew the helicopter shakily around the room "hey, you can fly planes too, right?" I laughed,

"No, but apparently it's easier than a helicopter." Mikey nodded, then got really bold and started climbing higher. _Oh shit._

"Pull up! _Pull up!_ " I yelled desperately and scrambled out of the way. Donnie and Leo watched with matching expressions of horror as the aircraft plummeted towards it's pilot. Mikey yelled and ducked, trying madly to regain control but it crashed and skidded across the concrete, it's propellers smacking against the floor. Somehow, it was still functional, so he kept trying to fly it. I sat at the dining table with Leo and Donnie. Eating pizza, laughing and yelling at Mikey to do something different when he would almost crash it.

And that's when everything went to hell.

* * *

Alarms wailed throughout the lair.

The helicopter crashed.

Donnie was the first to react,

 _"Breach!"_ He got up and ran to the monitor wall. Leo, Mikey and I scrambled after him. Donnie's fingers flew madly across the keyboards and video feeds of people carrying guns in black appeared. They were running through the maze of sewage tunnels and heading straight towards us. Splinter and Raphael appeared behind us and watched in horror. _The Footclan._

"They've blocked all our escape routes." Donnie announced.

 _"Hide!"_ Splinter hissed, "go, I will take care of them but you cannot be seen! Get Raiya away from here!" His last statement made them all turn and look at me. _Oh great, I'm the Damsel in Distress._

"They're going to blow the main wall!" Donnie yelled. Splinter ran for the main octagon room just as a giant hole was blasted through one of the walls. My ears rang and I heard nothing for what seemed like an eternity. Leo grabbed my arm and dragged me into the dining room where he ushered me to hide. Then he ran off. And that's when my hearing returned. I almost fell backward with the noise that hit me; yelling, gunshots, the crackle of electricity, metal against metal. It was all so much!

"-tranq darts!" I heard Donnie yell

"Don't let them hit your skin!" _Leo_. I breathed a sigh of relief; he wasn't far away. The gunshots came closer. _God damn it, what can I do? I'm totally useless!_ I dimly made out Mikey's voice as he taunted the Foot soldiers. _That's it! I can taunt them!_ I looked around for a weapon of some sort but there was nothing. The weapons room was just across the training cave, if I could get to it without being shot. Leo barked orders to his brothers, he sounded further away than before. There were so many things that could go wrong but I could think of nothing else to do. So I gathered my courage, put out the growing flames of fear, and charged from my hiding spot. Huge bullets zoomed past me as I ran, but then it was over and I was in the weapons room. I looked around hopefully. _Is there a shield or...wait. Ninjas don't use shields._ I mentally face palmed myself. _You're so stupid! You can't use any of this shit!_ I yanked a massive dagger off the wall anyway. I heard Leo yell something about the fan room and I remembered briefly seeing it on my tour with Mikey. I wasn't far from it. _I can help!_ I peeked around the corner. Foot soldiers were advancing towards the fan room, where one of the turtles fought inside it. I darted closer to the entrance and picked up a chunk of cement. I didn't really want to kill anyone, maybe just knock them out. It was heavy, so I couldn't throw it far. Which meant I had to get closer to chuck it. My approach wasn't very stealthy and I was spotted. I tossed the cement and-amazingly-took a guy out with it. _Ha! Take that, asshole!_ I looked up and saw Raphael fighting within the confined area of the fan room. He gave me an incredulous look as he was being pelted by tranq darts that seemed to have no affect on him. Then he noticed a bunch of soldiers lift their guns toward me,

"Raiya!" He yelled. I ducked and ran out of the way as they opened fire. _I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm totally dead._ Raph rammed a soldier right into the wall, which caused the whole room to collapse on top of them. There was no movement beneath the concrete blocks. _Holy shit._

"Raph!" I called as I climbed over the debris, "Raph!" A weak cry rang from the octagon room. It seemed like the whole assault paused for a moment to see what happened. _Splinter_. He laid on the ground at the foot of a massive, robot samurai. _What the hell is that!?_ Several cries of "Sensei!" rang throughout the lair. Then, incessant crackles of electricity that were followed by cries of pain _. I have to do something._ I gripped the dagger in my hand, climbed back over the fallen cement, and ran towards them. Swallowing back my fear, I ran right up to the samurai-who'sback was to me-and plunged the dagger into an important lookingmechanism on it's back. It whirled around on me,

"You stupid little girl!" It bellowed in an angry voice. I backed away, my fear returning at a frightful rate. Splinter was back on his feet, thanks to my interruption. He yelled my name and wrapped his tail around my midsection, then hurled me away from the fight. Shaking, I huddled behind the table in his room and watched events unfold before my eyes. The robot samurai, I assumed, could be no other than Shedder. Splinter had battled him restlessly, despite his old age and wounds. But now, he couldn't stay on his feet. Leo shook off the Foot soldiers that had been electrocuting him through electric-charged spears,

"Sensei!" He yelled desperately, running to his master's aid. Splinter crawled toward a lever on the wall,

" _No_ my sons!" He coughed out the words, "stay back!" He pulled the lever and slumped to the floor. Chains rose and fell throughout the whole room and huge, metal gates fell across all the entrances.

"Sensei!" Leo rammed the gate but it didn't budge. He knelt down beside the almost motionless rat, " _dad!_ Dad, what are you doing!?" He watched with fearful eyes as Shredder approached his master.

 _"Hide."_ Splinter hissed before he was dragged away. Leo, stubborn as ever, gripped the gate and tried to raise it. His brothers ran to help and with their combined effort, lifted it high enough for Donnie to place his bō beneath it. He pressed the button that extended the staff and all the gates shot up around the room. The turtles ran into the room, weapons raised. The remaining Footclan soldiers held a defensive circle around Shredder, who held Splinter up as if he were a rag doll.

"Drop your weapons," he ordered and looked at the crippled rat in his grasp, "or your... _father_...will die." He held up his other fist with small spikes across the knuckles, awaiting their decision. Leo released his grip on his swords. They clattered onto the wet, concrete floor to rest at his feet. Donnie and Mikey followed suit, abandoning their weapons. Shredder laughed and launched his fist into Splinter's gut.

 _"No!"_ The turtle's cried in unison and rushed forward. But they were stopped in their tracks by the electric spears. Their bodies writhed desperately as white-blue electricity snaked across them. Splinter's body fell to the ground, unmoving. Leo cried out and tried to move, but-like his brothers-Leo's struggles slowed until he stopped moving completely. Tranq darts were fired at the 3 turtles until Shredder was satisfied and had them chained, then carried out through the hole they blasted through the wall.

"Where's the fourth?" The robot samurai asked as the last of the soldiers exited the lair.

"He's dead," one of them answered "tunnel collapsed on him."

"Hmmm," Shredder glanced across the underground fortress once more, "destroy this place." I barely had time to scramble for cover under the table before bombs went off throughout the whole lair.

* * *

The explosion seemed to happen in slow motion. First, it was the blasts, causing the ground to shake beneath me. Then, cracks snaked across the roof and walls, causing dust to rain down and hang in the air. And then, concrete flew everywhere. Chunks smashed furniture, cracked walls and the floor and even collided in mid-air. But it didn't stop there. More cracks formed in the walls and roof, causing more concrete to fall loseand smash the floor. There was a huge crack above me and dust sprinkled down around me. I dove out from beneath the table only a moment before it was smashed by concrete. I gasped for breath to calm my racing heart, but only succeeded in filling my lungs with heavy dust. I coughed as I stumbled toward Splinter. It looked like he'd moved during the explosions. And a good thing he did too, or else he would've gotten crushed. He laid on his back against a block of cement, surrounded by debris. It looked like he was wrapped in a bed of stone there was so much of it. I wiped dust from my eyes and began to dig the rat out. I knew I couldn't through, most of the cement slabs were too big and heavy for me to move. But I did what I could and eventually tried to move one of the larger pieces. I threw all my weight into yanking it off Splinter's arm. And I did get it off him, but I couldn't flip it away. I heard movement from somewhere in the lair. The sound of concrete chunks tumbling over each other and being shoved aside. I looked at the pile of them behind Splinter, praying for it to not fall on him. The mound didn't budge...the noise was coming from somewhere else. There was a groan, then heavy footsteps. Hope fluttered inside me,

"Raph?" I called.

"Raiya?" The footsteps approached me from behind, "Sensei!" The turtle leaped into my vision as he desperately uncovered Splinter. He was covered in dust. _Holy shit. Raph dug himself out of the collapsed fan room._ He shoved the concrete out of his way as if they weighed no more than stones and pebbles. Raphael scooped the rat up in his arm, it was the most gentle thing I'd ever seen him do. He jogged over to the living room and I cleared the table off for him to set Splinter down on.

"Get the first aid kit," he ordered. I stumbled around, trying to find it, "on the shelf." _There!_ I yanked it from is place and brought it over to Splinter. Inside was a jumbled mess of medical supplies. My hands didn't know what to grab or what to do. _What do I even need!?_

"Do you know first aid?" I asked Raph desperately. He looked at me incredulously,

"Does it _look_ like I know first aid!?" He demanded "why the _hell_ would I know first aid!? Don't _you_ know first aid!? You're a girl, you should know first aid!" Well that's extremely stereotypical. Splinter groaned and tried to roll over but Raph grabbed him to keep him still. I dug through the contents of the entire kit in frustration. _There isn't even Advil in this god damn box! What kind of first aid kit doesn't have Advil!?_

"Sensei?" He called softly. The rat's eyes flickered open,

"Raphael?" My heart sank at the sound of his voice. _He sounds so weak._

"Yeah. Yeah I'm here."

"You...must go, and-" he coughed awfully before continuing in a cracked voice "and find, your...brothers" One of the vials was labelled as morphine. The name stirred a memory...I remembered reading something about it. _Pain medication! The really good shit too!_ I fumbled and read the dosages on the side, then grabbed for a needle. _Why can't this shit just be chewable fish gummies?_ I filled the syringe up to the specified adult measurement, hoping it worked on mutant rats just as well. Then I realized I have no idea how to inject it,

"Uhm," I waved the needle in the air, "I have _no_ idea what I'm doing. Where's a vein I can stick this in?"

"Didn't it come with instructions!?" Raph snapped. _Oh yeah, of coursebecause this stuff is sold regularly at the dollar store!_ I tried to think as fast as I could. In movies, needles were always injected into an arm vein...I searched for a visible vein in Splinter's arm, then slid it into his skin without a second thought and dispensed the liquid.

"I _really_ hope that works." I murmured and just about had a heart attack as an alarm went off. I glanced back at the monitor wall; screens had fallen off the wall, keyboards were scattered across the floor, monitors flickered on and off or displayed static as disconnected wires sparked occasionally. I ran over as a screen lit up and stayed on. A map of New York appeared and zoomed in on a blinking dot that kept moving.

"It's some sort of tracker, I think." I called.

"It must be Donnie."

"Go...save them." Splinter urged. Raphael looked up at me, determined,

"Let's go save my brothers."

* * *

Of course; we had no way of getting to the Sacks Estate, which is where Donnie's tracker ended up at. I couldn't call Olivia, she'd just cause a whole other problem and Raph probably wouldn't even fit in our small car. I could call my uncle and we might even be able to fly a helicopter, but him knowing would also cause a problem. I voiced all this to Raphael,

"I'll walk if I have to, but we have to get there fast so let's just grab one of those news vans."

"Uhm, how about we _don't_ steal a vehicle," I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair, "I guess I can just sneak in and grab our car," I sized Raphael up doubtfully," is there any way you can fit in the backseat?"

* * *

"This is ridiculous." Raphael grumbled and tried to move around in the cramped back seat, where all the window shades were up.

"Well, it'll be easier to explain to my sister how I got the car covered in bullet holes than to my uncle." Even though uncleTom would be way more capable and chill about replacing one of his trucks.

"I'm probably going to have to tell Olivia after this." I muttered as I followed the GPS directions to the Sack's Estate. He snorted,

"Sensei won't like that." Hearing him confirm my thoughts made me grimace,

"Yeah, I know."

"How did they _know?_ " He hissed angrily, "how did they find us?" I shrugged, not wanting to point out that he'd intentionally attacked them and later the same night they attacked us. It had to have some sort of connection.

"It's like a game of cat and mouse," he growled "we attacked them and got away, they found us, attacked us and got away, now we're tracking them, and-" he stopped mid sentencein realization.

"What?" I blinked as the sun's first rays of light peaked over the horizon and blinded me.

"They must have bugged you when I attacked them. None of them or their bullets touched me, so it must have been you." My hand to flew to my wrist. _Shit_. I wrenched the steering wheel and veered over to the side of the road.

"It's in my wrist. I forgot that I felt a sting there. Give me your knife." He raised his nonexistent eyebrows at my outstretched hand and snorted,

"Only _I_ use my knife." I rolled my eyes, _of course._ I laid a cloth down on the centre console,

"Fine then," I held my wrist out to him, palm up, "cut it out." He muttered something and roughly grabbed my arm to look closer at my wrist. He ran his fingers over the skin, searching for signs of the bug.

"I think I felt the sting here." I poked at a tiny, red spot on my otherwise clear skin. He cursed,

"That's where all your veins are." He traced his fingers over the area a while longer, as if creating a mental map of my wrist and everything below my skin. He grimaced and took out his knife, flipped the blade out, and ran the cold metal lightly over the red spot.

"Keep still." Despite his words, I couldn't help but flinch as the cool blade bit into my skin. Pain lanced up my arm and I clenched my other hand into a fist, my nails cutting into my palm. I looked away, but could still feel the warm blood trickle from the open wound.

"Calm down," Raph murmured, he started breathing loudly through his mouth, "slow your heart rate." I matched my breathing to his and never faltered from the pattern, even when I felt the cold knife plunge deeper, causing crude bolts of pain to shoot through me and pool around the cut. I flexed the fingers on my other hand and wiggled them around, focusing on moving them instead of the pain. _What is so long!? Shouldn't he have found the bug_ before _he stabbed me!?_ Raphael sighed in relief and extracted the knife from my wrist, which caused more blood to flow forth. He cursed and scrambled for the first aid kit I convinced him we should bring. He cursed again when he hit his head on something. I would have laughed if my hand hadn't started to grow cold. He came up with bandages but then realized the wound was too large and needed stitches. So he dove back down and searched for a needle and thread.

 _"Shit shit shit shit…"_ he continued to mutter swears the whole time he closed the cut. I glanced over as he pulled the bandages out. With one hand, Raphael held one end of the bandage against my wrist and used his other hand to gently wrap it around my wrist and occasionally over my thumb. My eyes flickered to his face. He was focused on concentration, he didn't even acknowledge me staring at him. He bit his lip and examined his work,

"Is it too tight?" He asked. I wiggled my fingers to test it out,

"Nope."

"Good," he slumped back awkwardly in the backseat, "that thing was in deep." I saw his knife laying on the cloth beside a tiny, metal thing the shape of a sharpened pencil lead; both covered in my blood.

"Do we smash it or leave it on the side of the road?" I asked.

"Leave it so they think we haven't found it." I nodded and tossed it out the window, cleaned my blood off Raph's knife and handed it back to him,

"Thanks, by the way." I added and started the car.

"Can you drive?" He asked. I pulled out onto the road using my good hand to answer his question.

* * *

"Raiya?" Raphael asked, breaking the long string of silence "I-uh..." He cleared his throat and started over,

"I never apologized for putting you in danger. I'm sorry," my gaze flickered to the rear-view mirror. Raph sat uncomfortably in the back, looking down as he fiddled with his fingers. I opened my mouth to reply but he was faster, "Sensei was right. I should have stopped and considered my actions. I did this all. All this shit was because of me. If I hadn't attacked them, they never would have known we existed and they never wouldhave put that _thing_ in you and..." He groaned and put his head in his hands. _What can I tell him?_

"Well...at least now we all know you can't do anything dumber than this." I almost jumped out of my skin when I heard him laugh. It was a small, light laugh. But it was still a laugh; the first one I'd heard from him. I smiled, It sounded nice, actually.

"Does your wrist still hurt?"

"Not really, I'm just kinda scared to use it in case your shitty stitches don't hold it closed." Raph grinned,

"Sensei and Donnie are the best at that stuff"

"That doesn't surprise me. What about Leo?"

"Worries too much. And Mikey just does it all too fast."

"And you...?" He grimaced,

"I didn't really try when we had to practice. Which really backfired on me today."

I yawned, "yeah no kidding."

"Shit, you didn't sleep at all last night, I forgot. Can you still drive?"

"Well even if I can't, neither can you," I avoided the question, "if I start falling asleep, just stab my wrist again."

"But _can you drive?_ " He repeated

"I'm going to have to. What kind of music do you like?"

"Any as long as it doesn't sound like funeral music," I nodded and switched on the radio, shuffling through a few stations before settling on one, "you're not going to fall asleep while you're driving, are you?"

"Well I definitely could, but as long as you keep talking to me and keep my mind going I'm good. Just try not to bore me for the sake of both of us."

"Okay, how far out are we?" I glanced at the map and the distance we still had to cover. I did some quick math,

"Like half an hour."

"Can we shorten that?"

"Yeah, if you want to end up in the ditch," I laughed. Raph gave me a confused look, "I don't have my license yet because I'm a shit driver. And also, if I get caught, I'll be in some huge trouble. I can speed a bit, but that's it," I shook my head, "I really don't like driving, flying is way easier and I'm so much better at it."

"You aren't bothered by heights?" He asked in disbelief. I shook my head with a grin,

"Noway, the higher, the _better!_ I need to take you out on a flight sometime, it's _so_ cool."

"Yeah, I'll pass on that offer."

"Who the _hell_ turns down a helicop- _ohhhhh!_ You're afraid of heights, aren't you?" I glanced back at him. Raph opened and closed his mouth, trying to deny it, basically answering my question, "no _freaking way!_ The fearless warrior is afraid of heights!" I patted his insanely muscular arm, "don't worry, I can keep a secret." Then, he burst out like he finally could form words,

"W- _what!?_ _Heights?_ I'm not afraid of heights! Who...wha-what gave you that idea?"

"Raph, I give you credit for trying, but you're a bit late," I laughed, "don't worry. Everyone has fears; I'm afraid of emus."

"Of what?"

"An emu. You know, those big, hostile birds that are always at zoos and look kind of like ostriches? The ones with the big, fat feathery bellies and wings and the scary feet and long necks? They're always in those cages that have signs all over saying, 'caution: don't poke fingers through fence or feed animals' because the assholes'll bite them _right_ off!" He raised a brow at me,

"That's happened to you, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, I have a scar on my pointer and middle finger." I showed him my right hand, which also had the bandage wrapped around it, he took my hand carefully and ran his fingers over the scar,

"Wow, this hand's gone through a lot"

"I know," I laughed, "I have another right here from a hair straightener," I pointed out a light patch of rough skin on the side of my neck, "how'd you get that one on your lip? It's probably _way_ more heroic then an emu attack." Raphael sighed,

"Not by much, actually. A cat clawed me." I burst out laughing,

"How the _hell_ did that happen?" "When I was younger, I found this cat in the sewer. She had her paw caught in a rat trap and a baby cat with her. I got her free and gave food to them, but as soon as I got near the baby cat, she lashed out and clawed me." I laughed,

"I hate cats, they're too sassy for me. Okay, so guess what happened here" I ran a finger over a jagged line of scar tissue on my forearm. Raph answered immediately,

"Serrated knife cut."

"Ha! I wish, that'd be a _way_ better explanation than a frickintree branch attack."

"Once I tripped and cut myself with my own sai." Raph said, rubbing a cut below his collarbone. I took this as a challenge,

"There's one on my foot from stepping on a nail."

"I have another on my palm from shattering a light bulb Mikey and I were tossing back and forth."

"I got this one in my eyebrow from having a temper tantrum and smashing my face into my bed frame." I grinned.

"I got electrocuted here while we were setting up cameras in the sewers." He ran a finger over a light green, spiderwebbing, pattern of skin on the inside of his forearm.

"My cousins were pretending to cut my mouth like the Joker once and the knife slipped and made this cut on my cheekbone," I laughed at Raph's horrified expression, "I know, such a mean family." We compared stories of how we got all our scars. It was as if Raph had been wearing a veil for the past week and now he'd taken it off. And only after we ran out of scars to tell about did I notice that Raph hadn't mentioned the big, intricate Japanese one on his shoulder. I pointed at it and asked how he got it.

"Oh, that one. Yeah I got Mikey to do that for me. It's the same symbol as the one on my mask. Cool, huh?" He stroked his thumb over the raised scar tissue.

"What does it mean?" I asked.

"Anger," he laughed lightly as I raised an eyebrow, "it's there because it fuels me. I know, it sounds weird. But I'm always angry and I have been all my life, and I've learned to take that anger and strengthen myself with it. Aaaand this was also one of the only symbols Mikey could do. And I can't really take it off now," he smiled. Then, much to my surprise, he took a deep breath and continued, "I'm sorry for how I've been around you this last week. I've just been mad that everyone trusts you without a second thought and worried that you would expose us. It's hard for me to let go of all my anger and just have fun, but for some reason, it's easier when I'm around you," he finally met my gaze through the rear-view mirror, "thanks." I smiled and flushed,

"Well I guess this is beneficial for both of us then because you're _much_ less scary like this," Raphael laughed and I checked the map, "5 minutes until we get to the Sacks Estate." I announced.

"What's the layout?" He leaned forward and gazed out the front windshield.

"Uhm a big ass castle on a big ass square piece of land."

"That's not what I meant."

"Well this is the best I got," I had the screen on my dashboard show the Sacks Estate. My map was supposed to display just the roads so it showed the roads around his property, which gave us an idea of how big his house might be but that was it, "so what's the plan?" I asked.

"Get us as close to the house as you can and wait outside for me to come back with the others."

"I can help!" I protested, "the entire Footclan is going to be there, and that includes robowarrior! So you can hold them off while I find your brothers."

"I can't just let you run around the Sacks Estate! Leo would kill me!"

"Oh shit there's a gate." I started to slow down as the castle came into view.

"What the hell are you doing!? _Ram it!_ " _Is he insane!? We're going to die! Oh well, too late now._ I ducked instinctively as we crashed through the gates. Foot soldiers started peppering the car with bullets immediately. I laid my foot on the gas pedal and peeked through the windshield. I managed to crash into 2 of them before ramming through a second, smaller gate into the courtyard where we got shot even more. Raphael burst from the backseat and dispatched the soldiers. He turned back to me,

"Wait here," I jumped from the front seat and followed him anyways. " _Raiya!_ What are-!?" Soldiers opened fire on us the second he busted down the front door. He whipped around and pulled me tightly against his chest with his back-or really, his shell-tothem. When they stopped firing he looked down at me,

"You okay?" I nodded and watched in amazement as he took out all the soldiers with ease. He beckoned me over,

"Okay that was really cool." I whispered

"Why are you whispering?" He asked and I shrugged, "okay you can help, but stay close. They know we're here so we have to be quick. Look for signs of the others and I'll take care of the Foot if we're seen. But just incasetake this," he handed me one of his sai, "alright, let's go."

* * *

"They're in here!" Raphael disappeared into a room ahead of us. I ran after him, praying I wouldn't get lost. I heard yelling up ahead and I ran faster.

"Raph!" I yelled as I burst into the room. I barely registered the 3 brothers standing-basically motionless-in glass cages with their feet and arms tied up, and their blood running in tubes from their wrists and to a machine, where it was filling a canister. The turtles looked up at me as I entered, but my attention was on Raph. He was battling Shredder on the level beneath us. A huge square hole in the ground allowed me to watch in horror as Shredder tossed him around as if he weighed no more than a loaf of bread.

 _"Raphael!"_ I yelled. Shredder looked up at me as I threw Raph's saito him. I didn't wait to see what happened, I just ran to Donnie's cage and banged on the glass.

"Donnie! _Donnie!_ " He finally looked up at me, "Donnie, what do I do?" He murmured something too quiet to hear. I placed my ear to a breathing hole in the glass and I was able to roughly make out what he said,

 _"Adrenaline."_ _Of course!_ I looked around desperately for a control pad or something. I backed into an old computer sitting on a desk, one of the few still on. Excited, I ran around to face the screen. It was exactly what I needed! I heard a huge cracking noise and instinctively looked up at the roof, but it wasn't collapsing. A pained yell accompanied the loud noise. The sounds were coming from the level below me. I ran to the railing encircling the square hole. Raph laid on his stomach as Shredder pressed down with his foot on his shell. He let out another yell that caused my heart to stop. _Shredder's going to kill him_. I ran back to the computer, and scanned the screen for a dosage option. I selected adrenaline and increased the dosage until I couldn't anymore. An overdose warning flashed on the screen but I barely noticed it. Yet the turtles remained unmoving in their cells.

 _"Get up!"_ I yelled. Raphael had gone silent and I couldn't decide wether to take it as a good, or bad sign. Arms grabbed me from behind, restraining me before I could react. _No. Not again!_ Dread filled my chest, making it near impossible to breathe. I screamed Raphael's name. _I have to know if he's alive._ I tried screaming again but a gag was shoved in my mouth. I struggled as they dragged me away. I must've been too much trouble, because they resorted to pressing an awful smelling cloth against my nose. My senses dimmed and I started to lose control of myself. I was partly aware of something shattering. Then yelling. Strong arms lifted me. I curled up against a warm chest, wanting to sleep. Voices, calling my name maybe? _Ow._ Something poked my arm. Oh _ow_ that _really_ hurt. I felt a warmth from the spot in my arm spread across my body. My hearing slowly returned,

"-awake?" _Mikey._

"Just give it a sec. Her vitals are fine and I've counteracted the sedative's effects." _Donnie._

"Raiya? Raiya, wake up." _Leo_. The heaviness in my eyelids was lifted and my eyes fluttered open. 2 big, green faces were right in mine.

"See, I told you." Donnie said triumphantly and backed away. I noticed I grasped the nasty cloth that was shoved in my face and I put it in my hoodie pocket. I looked up at Leo, who held me in his arms.

"Can you stand?"

"Yeah I-" I gasped as I remembered someone was missing "Raph!" I squirmed from Leo's grasp and ran to the railing, Raph's saiwere scattered on the floor, along with his brothers' weapons that he brought. I heard them follow. And once again, Leo scooped me up. He jumped down to the level beneath us and set me on the ground. Mikey cursed. I felt myself go cold when I saw him laying on the floor. I scrambled over to him.

"His shell's cracked." Donnie murmured and took out a roll of duct tape.

"What happened?" Leo demanded as Donnie taped the crevasses on his shell closed.

"Shredder. He held him off while I tried to free you guys," I laid my hand on his arm, "Raph." He groaned in acknowledgement and shifted to look at me,

"Are you okay?" I sighed in relief. _He's okay._

"Are you serious, you're worried about me? You should be worried about yourself, you look like shit." His shoulders shook as he laughed,

"That's good to know," he stood up and looked at his brothers, "what'd they do to you?"

"Cow prodded us all the way to this shit hole and sucked our blood like mosquitoes." Mikey grumbled as he picked up his nunchucks. Raph's brow creased in confusion,

"What?" We asked simultaneously,

"Sacks is going to release a neurotoxin from his skyscraper to infect the whole city, then use the mutagen in our blood to save everyone and become rich." Donnie explained and twirled his bō in his hand.

"So we have to get there first and stop him." Leo concluded, his katana sat sheathed once again on the back of his shell. He handed Raph his sai.

"But the canister of your blood is still here." I pointed out.

"Sacks took another one to New York with him as soon as you guys set off the alarm. We should probably destroy the one here," Leo explained then turned to Donnie, "what's the fastest way back to New York?"

"The only way we could make it back in time to stop them is if we flew but none of us know how to-" Mikey cut him off,

"Woah woah _woah_ , bro," he slung his arm across my shoulders and pulled me closer to his side, "you're forgetting that the latest and hottest member of our team, is a _freaking pilot._ "

* * *

"Can you guys fit in that?" I asked, looking over the 4 passenger helicopter.

"Nope. Raph and I'll ride outside. Can this thing hold our weight?"

"Hell yeah it can, Robinson R44 Raven II was _built_ for heavy slinging." I hopped into the pilot's seat and started the engine as the turtles climbed on, dragging the canister of their blood with them. Raphael and Leo stood on the rails, wearing harnesses that kept them clipped onto the helicopter incasethey slipped. They all managed to fit the helmets on, much to my surprise.

"Alright boys, hang on out there," I said through the transmitter at my mouth and we rose off the ground. _Holy shit. I'm flying without uncle Tom!_ "what's the plan?" I asked.

 _"Fly us up to the Sacks skyscraper then get the hell out of there."_ Leo said.

"Awyou guys are cute. Raph tried to keep me out of the fight too, ask him how that went."

 _"You'll have to put her in a coma to keep her out of it."_ He grumbled and I grinned,

"I'm not just a chauffeur, I can help. Just tell me what to do and I'll do it."

 _"Leo, she can get the mutagen."_ Donnie pointed out.

"Yeah, I'll do that! Where would it be?"

 _"As soon as I can get a visual on the building I'll do a scan and tell you where it is."_

"Got it, we're about 10 minutes out."

 _"Hey guys, check this out,"_ Mikey hoisted the canister up and tossed it out the open doorway _"bomb's away!"_ I laughed,

"Is that a secluded enough place to throw it?"

 _"It should be good. If anyone finds it, the blood will have already been absorbed into the ground or infected."_ Donnie said.

 _"Oh yeah, and thanks for saving us."_ Leo added.

"No problem, how's the view out there?"

 _"Awesome!"_ I could hear the smile in Leo's voice and I grinned,

"This is the flight I said I'd take you on, Raph. So if you don't open your eyes and relax I'll take you out on another one later." He muttered something then yelled,

 _"Holy shit Raiya! Could you take us any higher!?"_

"Not yet, I haven't learned to navigate the wind- _shit_ hang on!" The helicopter shook and rocked sideways for a few seconds, "my bad, I hit a pocket"

 _"Maybe you should work on navigating these winds first."_ Raph said.

"I can!" I protested, "Donnie I can see the Sacks tower, are you close enough to scan it?"

 _"Not yet."_

 _"Girl you have to take us sky divingsometime!"_ Mikey said. Raph protested immediately and I laughed,

"First I need a helicopter that can fit all you guys properly."

 _"Donnie can modify this one."_

 _"Mutagen's 8 levels below the roof."_ He announced.

"Nice, I'll land and take the elevator down to grab it. Then what?"

 _"Take it to the lair, it can save Splinter."_ Leo said. _Of course._ I squinted at a figure on the roof of the Sacks skyscraper.

"Is that...?" I cursed as multiple projectiles zoomed toward us, "hold on!" I veered out of the way as they flew past us. Shredder.

 _"Disengaging!"_ Leo yelled, threw off his helmet, and unclipped his harness before falling to the roof. Donnie and Mikey followed, but Raphael stayed.

"What are you doing!?" I demanded, "it's not that far, Mr. Fearless, just jump!"

 _"What!? No, Raiya, I didn't stay because of the heights, I stayed because I have to tell you something." What!? Are you shitting me!?_ I cursed and avoided another volley of blades from Shredder.

"Raph I can't talk right now! You have to kill robowarriorand I have to steal back your brothers' blood!" I finally managed to land on the roof. I ripped my helmet off and ran for the elevator. As I passed Raph, he reached out and grabbed my arm.

"Raiya, I-" I turned back to him, stood on my tiptoes and kissed his cheek. He lost his words and stood with his mouth open in surprise. Then I jabbed my finger in his chest, which got his attention,

"If you die I'll kill you." And I ran into the elevator.

* * *

I shook him off my mind as I searched another room for the mutagen. Still nothing. _Where is it?_ As far as I knew, this level was deserted which worked out great for me, considering I was weaponless and could barely defend myself. _I should get Leo to teach me a few things._ I peeked into the next room and sucked in my breath. Somebody was moving around in there. I heard a machine whir to life from inside. Then I saw his face. I'd seen that face on TV all the time, there was no mistaking him. _Eric Sacks._ I briefly considered killing him but dismissed the idea almost as quickly as I came up with it. Instead, I snuck into the room and hid behind a shelf of tools and equipment. I watched as he placed an empty canister tothe machine and it began to fill with a green liquid. _He's separating the mutagen from their blood._ I looked around desperately for something heavy to throw at him, the only thing I could find was a microscope. _So my plan is to throw something at him and hopehe doesn't shoot me with the gun on the counter beside him. There's no way that's going to work._ I decided to modify my plan just a little. I Imagined Raphael beside me and I matched my breathing to histo slow my heart rate. I smoothed my clothes and hair, then stood up and walked out from my hiding spot,

"Mr. Sacks," I forced myself not to react when he grabbed his gun and whirled around to point it at me. I held my hands behind my back so he wouldn't see them shaking, "the test subjects are on the roof."

"Who are you?" he demanded.

"Sir?" I asked, feigning confusion

"Who _are_ you?" he repeated

"It seems Sensei Shredder has not notified you of my role."

"Nohe has not."

"Allow me to explain, Sensei Shredder had me eliminate the test subjects' ally and pose as her. I led the fourth test subject you thought had perished in the attack to the lab in your estate but they managed to escape and so I brought them here to be eliminated," Sacks relaxed his grip on his gun and I continued, "I apologize for all the secrecy, I assumed Sensei Shredder would have told you."

"I assumed the same thing," he lowered his gun warily. I visibly relaxed and put my hands in the pocket of my hoodie. Sacks watched my every move suspiciously,but assumed this movement was as casual as any. I followed him as he turned and walked back to the canister to watch it's process, "good work bringing the test subjects here, Ms. …" he waited for me to say my name. I removed my hands from my pocket,

"Raiya _fucking_ Carter." He cursed and scrambled for his gun but I was faster. I pressed the cloth in my hand to his face until he stopped struggling and fell to the floor. Then, I tied his hands and feet together and secured the cloth around his mouth and nose. _Nice! That was totally badass!_ I grabbed the canister of mutagen and disconnected it from the machine. I considered doing what Leo said but then decided against it, as usual.

* * *

Good thing I didn't run off on the turtles, it looked like they were in a bit of a predicament. They were supporting the base of the spire (which held the canister of neurotoxins in it) while Shredder threw his blades at them. Relief flooded through me when I saw that all the brothers appeared unharmed. Leo yelled at everyone to stay put and support the spire. Then Shredder had other ideas. He threw his blades at the frame, slowly cutting through the metal. It creaked and swayed dangerously. _Oh shit. Time to improvise,_

 _"Hey, Robowarrior!"_ I yelled. Shredder whirled around and glared at me. I waved the canister of mutagen in the air for him to see and backed toward the edge of the roof, "what happens if I drop this?"

"Little girl..." He warned and took a step toward me. The spire whined as it toppled over.

 _"Raiya!"_ I turned just in time to see Shredder ram into me. I screamed as we toppled over the edge of the roof and fell after the spire. The top of it landed with a massive crash on the roof of another building, creaking unsteadily. He wrenched the canister from my grasp as we fell. He clipped it to his side and grabbed onto the spire as he fell past it. _I can do that, can't I?_ I reached out and grabbed it, jarring my body. I heard the turtles yell my name and I turned to see them running down the body of the spire toward me. Unfortunately, I didn't land far enough away from Shredder. He whipped a blade at me and cut off the bar I was hanging onto. I screamed as I fell yet again. _What a shitty day_. Something caught my arm and I stopped falling I looked up to see Raph. The turtles had created a chain to save me. They started to raise me back up to the spire.

"Are you okay?" Raph asked and I nodded.

"Thanks."

 _"Leo!"_ Mikey yelled. I looked up as Leo parried a blade from Shredder and threw his katana at him, impaling his chest.

"Swing me towards him!"

 _"Do it!"_ Donnie yelled, "the angle is perfect!" Raph swayed me backwards, then forward. I kicked Shredder off the pole he held onto and he fell toward the streets below. _Oh my god it worked._ The spire creaked as Raphael hoisted me up. I grabbed a metal pole and caught my breath. _It's finally over._

"You're so stupid." Raphael murmured. I smiled and patted his arm,

"I know." Then I screamed as the spire creaked and started to roll off the building. _There's nowaywe're going to survive the fall._

"Is there anything anyone wants to say?" Leo called.

"I'm the one who licks all the icing off the Poptarts every morning and puts them back in the box!" Donnie yelled. The spire rolled off the edge of the building and fell until it landed on another roof below it.

"I so did not understand the ending of Lost!" Mikey cried. _Same!_

"Raph?"

"I just uh…," I saw him hesitate before continuing, "uh, I just want you guys to know I'm _sorry!_ I'm sorry I was so _hard_ on you! Every time I pushed you, I-I threatened you, I yelled at you, I pushed you beyond your limits is because I _believe_ in you! I believe in each one of you!" we slid off the building and started falling to the ground, but he didn't stop, "I believe in your spirit and your intelligence and your potential! And every time I talked about walking away it was because I was _scared_ -I just didn't think I was good enough to stand next to you and call you my brothers!"

"Uh, Raph?" Donnie called, "we made it." _Hey, I guess we did._ Dust hung in the air around us.

"We need to get out of here!" Leo hissed. I climbed out from under the spire and followed the turtles as they dove into the nearest storm drain. _Back to the shadows, I guess._

* * *

"The mutagen is now entering his bloodstream." Donnie announced. I stood off to the side as the turtles crowded around their Sensei. I'd filled a syringe with mutagen after I decided to disobey Leo. Donnie just injected him with it now,

"Master Splinter?" Mikey asked.

"Nothing's happening."

"Why isn't it working yet?"

"Mikey..." Splinter's voice came, very strained, "come closer." I watched as he leaned down to hear him better.

"What did he say?" Raph asked

"He said please get your knee off my chest." I stifled a laugh.

"Sensei!" They all yelled and backed away to give him space.

"You're alive!"

"It worked!" Leo was a lot less enthusiastic,

"I'm sorry. This was all my fault. You were right, we weren't ready."

"No," Splinter said, "it was I, who wasn't ready to let you go. All you needed was to discover that your true power lies in believing in one another." The brothers looked up at each other and grinned.

* * *

I watched excitedly as Donnie drew out plans for the helicopter modifications.

"Oh yeah, I was also thinking while I was falling to my death that you should make me like a really badass wingsuit." I added.

"Oh that sounds cool, add another one to that order!" Mikey called.

"I'll look into it but you might be too fat." Donnie hid his laughter.

"Hey! Muscle weighs more than fat!" He countered and I grinned. Everything was working out great now. The brothers had helped me put together an explanation to tell Olivia. I told her that I'd ran into this guy when I went to Vapiano for my job interview and we'd talked a bit. Then the morning after we went to Olive Garden, I went out early to see uncle Tom and forgot my phone in my room. While I was walking back to my apartment, I met the same guy again and he took me to lunch and after we walked around the city and did a bunch of things, then he walked me back to my apartment. As for the totallycar we'd left at the Sacks Estate, we ended up having to tell Uncle Tom and he helped me buy the same car and got the same license plate and made it seem like nothing ever happened to it. Turned out, he got along amazingly with Donnie and agreed to keep the helicopter he was planning to modify in his hangar. Amazingly, Olivia had actually believed me. As I watched Donnie, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket. _Damn, Already?_

"Alright guys, I have flight training in the morning so I'm out. See you tomorrow."

* * *

I turned around before crawling through the window and into my room.

"What?" Raph asked as I walked back toward him,

"I just remembered something. You know, when you decided to tell me something while robowarriorwas trying to kill us and I was trying to land a helicopter?"

"Oh yeah," he grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck, "sorry about that." I laughed,

"Wellwe didn't die so no worries. But what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh...nothing."

"Really? It seemed _pretty_ important."

"Just...don'tworry about it," I rolled my eyes and plopped down on the roof. He watched me, confused, "what are you doing?"

"Waiting for you to man up. Should've grabbed a book, though." After a few minutes, he sighed heavily,

 _"Fiiine,"_ I grinned and hopped to my feet, "I just wanted to tell you that you're a great pilot," I crossed my arms and raised an eyebrow, " _aaaand_ your reckless, and stubborn, and funny, smart, strong, beautiful and sarcastic and you make me happy and I love being around you and I love how you don't care what anyone thinks and I-I know Mikey called dibs on you-"

" _Woah,_ hold up! Did he _really_ call dibs on me?"

"Yeah, right after you left the first night you came to the lair," _Why am I not surprised?_ He stepped closer to me, "but I think Mikey can suck it the hell up." I laughed, stood on my tiptoes and wrapped my arms around Raphael's neck, "I second that statement." He grinned, bent down, and kissed me.

* * *

 **I know, I know, it's pretty cringey but I was fourteen and put about five minutes of planning into this so cut me some slack lol**

 **But hey, it's fun to read every now and then and it really helps to let me know how much my writing has progressed in the past two years.**


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